On Horseback
by DrippingInk
Summary: Ann is the optimistic girl of Harvest Moon 64. She deals with commonplace day-to-day happenings like the rest of her village, but is reacquainted with a childhood friend who promised her something fifteen years prior. Completed!
1. Prologue: My Name Is Ann

**On Horseback**

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Tomboy.   
  
That's how the people describe me. I'm not surprised. I was raised without a mother. I was taught how to be more of a boy. I didn't seem to mind it at all, well, until I got to a certain stage in my life. That's when I had to ask questions. But not just to anyone. To someone I could trust, like my best friend.  
  
When I was younger, I felt as though I owned the world. I loved everything about it. The trees and the flowers. The fresh scent of the sea blowing into my nostrils. The heat-giving sphere called the sun. Yes, I felt as though I owned everything that was in existance. I was at peace and at ease. Life was wonderful; fabulous; irresistable. However you wanted to put it. I was a happy girl.  
  
My mother and father owned a ranch. The day I was born was the seventh anniversary of the animal farm. Since I was raised in such an environment, my interests and pastimes were different, too. I enjoyed going outside and chasing the cows and throwing rocks at the poor sheep. I even frightened the horses from time to time, and they'd come charging at me, I, running in the opposing direction. My mother had to lecture me, even though I was still as young as I was ever going to be.  
  
Horses were apart of my interests. I often named the newborn colts that wandered throughout the farms, grazing at their new found lives. Sometimes, if my father was brave enough to trust me, I'd be saddled up onto one of the horses, and then take off around the entire ranch. I'd always scream, "Yeehaw! Giddy up, giddy up, YIPPEE!!" My mother would take pictures of me from her special place outside of the fields. My father would be out there, too, afraid that he might get hit by one of the racing horses one day.  
  
Flowers were something that I enjoyed. I always wanted to plant them around the ranch, but we didn't have any planting soil at the time. Even though the fact of the lack of soil saddened me, I was not overly devastated. Flowers were just an inspiration to me.  
  
My brother, Gray, was another piece of my life that was inspirational. Even though I knew that he'd never always be there for me, I still loved him. My father called it an early brother-to-sister bonding. He always blabbed that in a few years, Gray and I would be so different, we may not even be talking to each other anymore. I dreaded the thoughts, which eventually turned into fears.  
  
But the fears of my brother and me parting changed when my mother had an accident. One of our horses, an old ugly, rough and mean one, threw her from the saddle. She broke her spine. I was horrified. What would I do? Well, nothing most likely, as I was only four-years-old at the time. She was rushed off to a hospital. A hospital far away from where our ranch was located. I never saw her pretty face again.  
  
After my mother's death, I was devastated. I never wanted to leave my house again. I stayed locked up in my room for a long time, until, one day, I had the courage to go outside, and take a long look around. Nothing had changed out there. My father acted as if his wife was still living with us and Gray was...well, the same in ways. But he didn't talk as much as he used to anymore. I was sad again, but knew that when Gray made up his mind to do something, he never changed it.  
  
He NEVER changed it. Once he made up his mind, he made up his mind.  
  
Work around the ranch continued to run smoothly and the same. From time to time, I'd get a nasty vision in my head that my poor mother was dying all over again. I shivered at the shock. It frightened me so. I'd try and hide by running into the barn -just to find the animals charging at me- and then running into the house I'd come out of fifteen or twenty minutes ago.  
  
Then, I'd sneak but outside and wonder if I was just being foolish. I knew I was. I'd get back to work by weeding around the ranch and petting the animals. I enjoyed my "new" life, but nothing much had changed, except that we were short one family member. That's the way I wanted it to be. So, I tried to remain calm.  
  
And I did remain calm. I wanted to become the little girl that everyone knew. And I finally only worried about my mother in shifts. When I went to bed or when I wet the bed, (a terror to all four-year-olds) and when I didn't get picked up by my daddy. Otherwise, I was feeling fairly normal, again. When I turned five, I began to feel more at ease again. Even though I would never feel the same again, I pretty much reverted back to the way my life had been beforehand.  
  
Then, one day, on the 24th of Summer, a little boy appeared at the Old Man's Farm. The Old Man, as many of us called him, was a farmer, the farm located next to my ranch, the Green Ranch. I was curious to meet the little boy, so I visited the farm one day, when he was out in the fields, looking at the growing crops. "Hello," I said to him. I must have alarmed him, because his head flew up as if someone had just stuck an extremely sharp needle into his funny bone. "Umm...who are you?" the boy asked me in a funny tone. I smiled at him. "I'm the girl from the ranch over there." The boy looked over at my ranch and smiled. "I'm pleased to meet you." We shook hands.  
  
And a whole new friendship began.  
  
Everyday he came over to the ranch. We did as much as we could, for he was only staying until the day of the Cow Festival, which was held on Fall 4th. We would go various places. The beach was one of our favourite hangouts. We went there almost everyday. But, on rarer occasions, we'd head up Moon Mountain. It was a beautiful mountain, even though it wasn't the tallest mountain around. We'd roll down the hills that carried us down the mountain.  
  
"Isn't this fun?" I'd ask him every so often. He was a quiet boy most of the time, and only answered to "yes" or "no" questions a lot of the time. But this time he spoke to me. "Yeah, I feel great. I'm so happy that I met you." I gave the biggest smile I'd ever expressed since my mother's passing. He certainly was a nice boy.  
  
Other times, we'd be escorted by my father into the village, which was named Flower Bud. We visited the flower shop often, due to my interest in plants and nature. We also visited the bakery often, so that we could chew and munch on some of the village's best tasting pastry. I felt like I was in heaven whenever I bit into the cherry of a vanilla cake or a chocolate chip of a chocolate chip cookie. Even the crust of the caramel pie put me on cloud nine.  
  
But was it the pastry? The flowers? Or was it...the boy?   
  
After my thoughts on him began to change, we spent more and more time together. Swimming became a full-time job and racing around the village square was also enjoyable. We did very little site-seeing, for we were still both so young, but a whimsical visit to the pond or Mayor's mansion was common.  
  
One morning, when the boy came by, I rustled around in my pocket, and pulled out a music box. "What is this?" he asked me. I shrugged. "Daddy says that it plays music. I don't know how it works, but you're supposed to give it to someone who you like." And at this age, "like" didn't have the meaning that it had when you become older. "Like" as in super like as a friend, or are even flirtatious with. "Cool. I like it," he said to me. He pressed something on the music box that made a song start playing. I was shocked. "How did you do that?!" I gasped. He shrugged. "I dunno."  
  
It was the most gorgeous song that my ears had ever listened to. One of my favourite parts of the song went, 'Dance Under The Moon', and since I didn't think it had any title, that's what I called it.  
  
"Why don't we call this song 'Dance Under The Moon'?" The boy looked confused. "Why?" "Because whenever the music becomes very high, the people on it start saying, 'Dance Under The Moon'." The boy nodded. "Okay. If you want." He put the music box on the ground, and then asked me, "So, do you want to dance then?" I blushed. Either that, or I began to get a sunburn. "Umm...are you sure?" He grinned and said, "Why not?"  
  
I didn't know what love meant when I was five-years-old. But I was told that it was something strong. Nothing could ever break through it. Not pain, not suffering and not even your own parents, despite what they say about your love interest.  
  
He was an interesting boy, though. He had many strange interests and was basically head-over-heels for farmwork. He always told me that he was going to be the greatest farmer ever when he got older. "Just you watch!" he exclaimed. "If I don't become the greatest farmer in existence, I'll have to send for the little crickets!" He made claw-like hands and raced around the ranch. I laughed, not knowing what he had said. He then began jumping over fences, literally shocking me. "Whoa, be careful!" I called out to him. He winked at me and let out a small chuckle.  
  
Besides the farming, swimming, site-seeing and pastry stuffing, there was one other thing we did. Ride one of my father's horses. We snuck into the barn in the middle of the night, and got out the biggest horse. And he was BIG. Getting onto him was one the most difficult parts of riding. And since we were so much younger, it would take twice as long.  
  
"Need any help there, Red?" he asked me. That was the only time he had ever called me Red. "Yes, please," I replied, and I grabbed his hand, and we were both on horseback. The view was spectacular from atop the living creature. We both began to ride the horse around, and eventually he ran straight out of the field!!  
  
Lord, that wasn't good. We were headed straight for the beach and the water when the boy pushed me off. We both landed in the sand while the farm animal stopped right in front of the water, which he must have thought, "What is this?!"  
  
We had a lot of fun. A lot of fun.  
  
Finally, the summer ended.  
  
I didn't want him to go. I would be alone again. Without my mother. Even with my father and brother, I didn't feel whole. I wanted him to stay. I liked him. I know and knew that I did. But I didn't have to worry too much yet, since he wasn't leaving for another five days. So, on Fall 4th, I invited him up to the mountains one last time.  
  
"What did you want to tell me?" he asked me as we approached the heel of the mountain. "Umm...could I ask you a question?" I asked the boy. He nodded. "Will I ever see you again?" His eyes filled with tears. "You know, I think that I'll miss you, too. I haven't met someone as sweet as you in my whole life." I was touched by his words, even though we were both only five-years-old. I began chuckling for a moment and said, "Also, before you leave, do you want to climb that tree and go up the mountain one last time?" He chuckled, too, and said, "Okay."  
  
It would have turned out to be a cute scene, except that I had to fall down on him.  
  
"Yikes!" I shouted as I let go of the tree branch. I landed on the boy, and we both plummeted to the ground below. CRASH! Uggh, curse my stupid grip, it just ruined the sweetest part of my life. I was sitting on his back and he burst out laughing. I got tears in my eyes, but then started laughing, too.  
  
"That didn't work out to well," I told him, lifting him up. He stuck his tongue out at me, and asked, "Want to try again?" I gave another one of my super-duper smiles. "YEAH!"  
  
I began climbing the tree again, shortly being followed by the boy. But with my next move...  
  
...I was shocked. The next thing I did, was lose my grip again, but this time I went flying off the other end of the tree. The boy screamed as I landed on my forehead. He came rushing down beside me and shouted, "Are you okay?!" I managed to get up, and said, "Just promise me if you come back, you'll be the first to climb the trees." He burst out laughing again, and we hurried back to my ranch where my father put a bandage on my forehead.  
  
"You're going to have a bruise there, sweetie," he told me. I put my head down. "I know, but we were just having fun." My father understood me, and said, "I suppose you're going to go back outside one more time before your friend leaves." I decided that that would be the best choice.  
  
I opened the door and we walked out into the field. "I'm so stupid, how could I lose my grip twice? And all in less than three minutes?" He gave me an odd smirk and said, "No worries. I don't mind. I may have a scratch, too, but climbing trees in the dark isn't the smartest thing to do." I nodded and agreed on that. "Well, since you'll be leaving soon, do you want to keep the music box?" He looked into my eyes. "Yes. I could take it." A thought hit me as I was handing it over to him. "If you ever come back, give the music box to me. I'll know that it's you. I'll know that you're the one that I met when I was five. I'll know. I know I'll know." He sighed. "Okay." He paused for a minute and then said, "Don't worry. WE WILL be together again, someday." All of a sudden, his grandfather came to the ranch. "It's time to go." The boy looked at me and said, "I hope this is goodbye just for now." I nodded. "I hope so, too." His grandfather and him went to the beach. I followed their lead, curious of where he was going.  
  
As he boarded the boat, I hid behind a tree and watched them get his baggage packed. Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn't let him go. And...the boy...THE BOY? Oh, lord, that's what I've been calling him the whole time!!!  
  
The boat docked out of the marina, and I ran for the dock. "WAIT!" I called out to him. The boy turned and looked at me. "Goodbye!" he shouted and waved. I then called out to him, "You never told me your name!" If I remember correctly, he looked shocked. I heard him shout, but I never caught what he had said. I couldn't believe it.  
  
I walked back home. I felt gloomy. After the week and a half that we had spent together, I hadn't even asked for his name. Nor did he ask for mine. I felt strange and stupid at the same time. I hoped that he'd keep his promise and return one day.  
  
Time started to pass. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. Even a decade went by. I couldn't remember the boy anymore. I also started to think differently. My mother was dead, but I was beginning to feel very optimistic. I never thought about death or worrying about the small things in life. I was cheerful now, very cheerful. I always wanted to look on the bright side of things. I couldn't be small anymore.  
  
So I wasn't.  
  
I opened up.  
  
And I became who I am.  
  
And at long last, after so many more years, as if a miracle came into my life, that boat came back to the marina once more, but I didn't care. But I would care. For that boat was carrying the boy whom promised me that he would return one day. The one who promised me that we would be together again, in the future. And I didn't even remember him. I suppose this is the year when things were going to turn around for me. I would re-build what fell down on me all those years ago. And I would do in just one-hundred and twenty days.  
  
I knew what I was up against. I needed to find the innerself of me and let all of my sorrows get flushed down the toilet. I couldn't let my weeping from time to time stop what I wanted the most. I wanted the boy. I wanted him badly. We weren't going to lose each other after waiting for...oh, what was it now?  
  
Fifteen years.  
  
I waited fifteen years. And I knew that he would return. I believed in him. But the most important thing was that I believed in myself. If there was no me, then there would be no belief. He was back. He was finally back!  
  
This is where he came in.  
  
And changed me life, once again, forever.  
  
This is my story.  
  
And my name is Ann.

**

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**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**  
  
Ann did a bit of rambling :P I promise I won't do that again. Hope you liked it, Chapter 1 will be coming soon! :)


	2. The Farmer's Grandson

**On Horseback  
  
Chapter 1: The Farmer's Grandson**

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BRRIIINNGG!!  
  
"Eee-yikes!" I cried jumping out of bed. I hit my head on the ceiling, which I always do. I rubbed my head where I hit it, and climbed out of bed. I opened my window and took in a deep breath. "Ahh, another glorious day to enjoy!" I shouted, which startled one of the horses running around in the field. I laughed as I watched him run around in circles. I did that practically everyday.  
  
After getting dressed, I opened my door and emerged into the main shop. Yup, my family and I didn't just own a ranch, but we also sold some goods to the townsfolk and any other travelling people in the area.  
  
Chicken feed was one of our top products. We sold one to almost any customer that came in our doorway. Another favourite was the fodder, but it barely sold. Yup, that means all of our other products rarely ever get bought. I mean, ever since the Old Man on the farm passed away recently...  
  
"Good morning, honey," my dad greeted me while sorting out some money. I gave my usual "top o' the morning, pops" smile to my father and headed straight for the front door. I opened it and slammed the door behind me after I had left my house. It was another beautiful day. The only better thing about the outdoors rather than watching it, was being in it.  
  
I walked out to the field, where most of the animals were grazing or sleeping. My brother opened the barn door and gave me a small smirk. In the last year, my brother went from the I-won't-speak-often type of guy to the I-won't-speak-ever-again type of guy. The reasons for his sudden change were because of his recent accident. During the previous Spring Horse Races, my brother was thrown off by my horse, Cliffgard. His injury was severe, and he was told that he'd never be able to ride again. This greatly saddened him, and he'd been silent ever since.  
  
"Good morning, Gray," I said in a little pleading type of voice. He just continued to stand at the barn doors, but finally said, "Hi, Ann." I walked into the barn, to feed some of the animals that hadn't been let outside. Our fodder supply was low, but right after winter, that wasn't the biggest surprise.  
  
The current date was Spring 3rd. Our months and year system worked in a four month time period. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter were not just our seasons, but months. Thirty days per season (or months, whichever way you want to put it) equaled one hundred and twenty days in a year. It didn't seem like a long amount of time...but when you're living on a ranch, by golly gee it is.  
  
I put some of our last remains of fodder into the sheep's stalls and brushed my hands together. "That ought to do them for the rest of the day, I hope," I told myself. I walked back out into the field.  
  
Gray was brushing some of the animals while I went to look for Cliffguard. I wanted to ride him, since the Spring Horse Races was coming up again, in no time at all. My family was hoping that our horse would win this year. We obviously didn't win last Spring due to Gray's injury, and we didn't even enter in the Fall.  
  
I was hoping I could represent Green Ranch this year. I wanted to ride Cliffguard, or Cliff, as I liked to call him.  
  
I rode Cliff for about two hours when I saw the Mayor of Flowerbud Village (our village) come into the ranch. Beside him was a tall and lean young man. He looked tall from where I was sitting, anyway. I heard them mumbling about something, so I decided to go over and see the two men. I got off Cliff, and raced for the ranch entrance.  
  
"...You'll be buying a lot of fodder for your silo here, and chicken feed if you own any chickens," I heard the Mayor tell the man. "You can also get advice or tips from the owner, Hall, or his two children, Gray and - why, hello there, Ann." I walked over to the two people and put my hands on my hips when I came to a halt.  
  
"Well, good day Mr. Mayor. I see you've come by with someone that I am not familiar with?" The Mayor chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, this is the Old Man's grandson. He was disappointed at his grandfather's fast death, and decided to take over the farm for him." I looked over at the grandson. "Well then, since we are no longer strangers" -I stuck out my right hand- "I'm very pleased to meet you." He shook my hand and said, "Pleased to meet you, too. My name is Jack."  
  
Wow. What a...soothing voice. "Hi, oh, oops, what's wrong with me?" I blushed. "My name is Ann." I squeezed his hand so tightly that he had to yank it away from me. "Umm...yeah," he added on. I quickly turned my attention back to the mayor. "Are you showing Jack a tour of our ranch and what he would need to do if-" "Ann, Ann, Ann, slow down!" the Mayor interrupted me. "Yes, in fact, I am. Do you want to introduce him to your father and Gray?"  
  
I took Jack out into the field where Gray was milking one of our cows. "Gray!" I cried. My brother turned his head and looked at me. "This is - what was your name again?" I looked at the farmer. "Jack," he replied. I turned my head back towards Gray. "You heard him! Shake hands with him, bro." Gray hesitated, but shook hands with Jack and said, "You'll never become a good farmer, you know." I looked shocked. "Gray! That's awful! The new boy in town and those are your first words for him?!" Gray grew a frown on his face and went back to milking.  
  
I turned and looked at Jack. "I'm sorry; it's just that my brother has been down in the pits ever since his riding accident on my horse." That's when I told Jack the story of how my brother became gloomy. He seemed to have been a little interested.  
  
"That's sad," he said. I shook my head. "Don't worry; it's not the biggest of deals." Jack nodded and looked the other way. "This is a beautiful ranch," he complimented. "And I just can't wait until I get some animals of my own."  
  
As if on cue, one of the horses came running at Jack. "AHH! Jack, look OUT!" I screamed. A faint "Huh?" came from Jack, and he was slammed to the ground. I ran on over to him and helped him up. "I'm so sorry, it's just, the newborn colt around here is so hard to handle, even all three of us can't..." I stopped for a moment. "Jack, would you care to take the horse over to your farm?"  
  
Jack looked surprised. "Really? Sure." "Yay!" I cried. I went running on over to our house and opened the door shouting, "Dad! Dad! Dad! Jack wants to take the newborn colt to his farm with him!" My father looked over at me as if I was crazy for a second.  
  
I lead my father outside and explained the entire story to him. "New guy in town? Really?" Jack nodded at my father. "Well, if you're going to be running the Old Man's Farm, go ahead. That horse is not sane, so you'd better know what you're getting into." And Jack said that he knew exactly what he was getting into.  
  
The three of us took the horse to Jack's farm, (which was the pits) and put him in the stable. "I'd better be getting to Florist Lillia and buy some seeds. I'll be trying to clear as much land as I can within the next few days." My father and I nodded and we waved goodbye to Jack, leaving him on his own.  
  
"Maybe giving him that horse wasn't such a good idea," my father groaned as we returned to our house. I sat down at the table, and ate some lunch. "Believe me, daddy, it's all perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about!" My father didn't look so sure about himself, but said, "If that kid -Jack- gets into any mess, honey, you will be held responsible because you are the one who offered it to him." I took another bite into my chicken and said, "Yeah, yeah, cut the small talk, daddy. Jack's going to be fine with that little dumpling." Dad laughed and said, "Okay, now, if you ever so kindly don't mind, please pass the salt. Oh, and the pepper."  
  
After lunch, I decided to head on over to Jack's farm to see if I could help him out with anything.  
  
"Hey, Ann," he said as I walked in. "Did you come to help me?" I nodded. "I sure have." "Great!" called out the farmer, "you can start by pulling weeds from down there." I gave him and awkward smile and said, "Whatever you say, buddy."  
  
Working on the farm was definitely hard work. Even when you're just pulling weeds or throwing rocks into the well. "You're doing me a great favour here, Ann," Jack told me. I was used to this. I had grown up on a ranch. Well, even though farms were slightly different from ranches, a lot of the work was all the same. "Should I come by and help out tomorrow?" I asked him, finally realising that it was time for me to go home.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Okay, well, see you then," I said to Jack, waving goodbye.  
  
I jogged back to my place where my dad was waiting for me. "Ann, it's almost midnight." I gave my dad a mean look and said, "Dad, I'm 20-YEARS-OLD!!" Dad laughed and said, "Only kidding, just try to be home a little earlier than midnight, hon."  
  
I went into my room and locked the door. I never let anyone into my room after it was past my bedtime. I quickly got changed into my nightgown and brushed my teeth. The good thing about being an adult was that you didn't have curfews anymore, or else my father would have been racing around the town as if he were high on sugar or something. Oh, and he'd have been screaming my name, most likely, too.  
  
BANG! BANG!  
  
"Whhhaaattt???" I groaned, ready to get under my covers. Dad's voice was heard, saying, "Goodnight, pumpkin pie." I laughed. "Goodnight, daddy." Even though I was "old", I still didn't mind my father calling me baby names. I don't know why, though, all the other girls think that it's strange. Oh, well, they lose out on the funny names.  
  
With that, I turned my light off, and went to sleep.


	3. Local Horse Race

**On Horseback**  
  
**Chapter 2: Local Horse Race**  


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I woke up at 6:00 a.m. every morning to go and help Jack out with his fields. We talked about our social lives, farming and pretty much anything that had to do with the Mayor (we both thought he was weird) and his wife. I went through this routine for ten more days after Spring 3rd.   
  
Spring 8th is the yearly Planting Festival when a guy and someone he picks rides around in a balloon for an hour, throwing seeds around the village while the rest of us release balloons. A truly corny festival and one that I almost never go to. This year was no exception.  
  
On Spring 14th, my dad told me that it would be time to train Cliffguard for the Local Horse Race which was held on Spring 18th.  
  
"Okay, Ann, since you're going to be riding Cliff this year, I've got to give you a warning or two!" Dad told me. I sighed. The one thing I hated about doing and/or entering something that you've never done before, is the fact that you're parents or guardians have to blah, blah, blah for a couple of hours just to remember that they've got some more blah, blah, blah to explain to you.  
  
"...I think that's basically it. Did you get all of that, Ann?" Dad asked me when he was finished. I was currently lying on the ground sleeping.  
  
"ANN!!" Dad bellowed.  
  
What I thought were crashing cymbals, came to the tips of my right ear, emitting the loudest sound I'd ever heard. "Hmm? What?! Are the gates flooding?" were my first words. My father smacked his forehead and said, "Did you hear anything that I told you?" I nodded. I didn't want to look like a goof in front of my dad, especially after I fell asleep on him.  
  
We walked over to where Cliff was in the field, and I got on him. I began looking around the field at the other animals. "Aren't you going to put the other animals away while we race him?" I asked my dad. "Do we ever put them away when you're riding him?" he shot back at me. I shrugged. "Okay, okay, yeesh," I said, a little confused.  
  
After my dad went to get his whistle, (which we used to sound the horses into racing mode) he stood outside the front door of our house and shouted, "Tell me when you're ready, Ann!"  
  
Was I ready? Umm...no. I'd never rode Cliffguard when he was in racing mode. What happens if I screwed up? Wouldn't I look stupid? I mean - I didn't listen to my father's "warnings" so I'd probably be doing everything the wrong way. But then again...what if it just came out the right way? There wasn't THAT much to learn about racing a horse and I'd probably be just fine.  
  
"I'm ready," I told my father, who couldn't hear me. "What?" he called back. I chuckled under my breath. "I said...I'M READY!" I screamed back. He nodded and blew the whistle.  
  
As if possessed by magic or something, Cliffguard took off in an instant. "EEKK!!" I shouted and my father was laughing as he watched me. I pulled the strap out of the bags hanging on Cliff's sides. This would do the trick. I just hoped that I could lead him in a comfortable manner. "YEEHAW!" I shouted, and whipped him with the strap.  
  
Cliffguard winnied for a moment, but ran even faster around the field.  
  
My father was no longer laughing, he was just watching from our doorstep. He was either very impressed with my skills, or they were simply hideous. I didn't want to guess which was the correct one at the time, I was beginning to feel natious. "Keep it up, Ann!" my father bellowed, for me to hear. I continued whipping poor Cliff with the strap, but he just kept on racing around, no stopping at all. Was I a good jockey?  
  
Finally, I began to get exhausted. I stopped Cliff and jumped off of him. Dad came prancing over and cried, "Ann! Ann, Ann, Ann, Ann, Ann! That was the most wonderful performance I've seen in a while! I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to ride Cliff at the horse races. I think we might even win, you know." I had tears in my eyes, but they were tears of joy.  
  
"Hey, I liked that." Dad and I whirled around to see Karen, my best friend standing in the field.  
  
"I watched the whole ride, Ann. You were going at it for about one hour. It was pretty good!" I hugged Karen and told her, "Great. I guess you'll get to cheer me on this year! Oh, and don't think that Gray who'll most likely be sitting next to you is me. I'm sure he won't appreciate you dumping your wine or whatever on him." Karen burst out laughing and stuttered the words, "I-I won't, Ann." I gave my friend a warm smile and asked if she wanted anything to drink while she was present.  
  
"Nah, I'm on my way to work." I nodded. "Okay, Karen, I guess I'll catch you later." Karen stuck her tongue out at me and said, "Guess you will."  
  
Karen isn't the most optimistic girl around. She owns a vineyard with her parents not far down the road from the ranch. That mainly explains why she works at a bar. She tends to have fights with her father a lot, and is almost always down in the pits. They have one helper at the vineyard named Kai. He seems to be interested in Karen, but I'm not so sure. Only time will tell. I'm just surprised that she was as happy as she was today.  
  
After three more days of horse race practicing, it was time to sign Cliff up. Since my father was in charge of the sign-up sheet in town, he put Cliff's name down first. "Okay, boy," I said to the horse. "I hope we win!"  
  
Since there was no way that I'd be able to take Cliff through town, I took him through a narrow strip just north of our ranch that was the entrance for all of the horses. After that, I went out to the village square where I met Karen.  
  
"Do you think I'll win?" I asked my best friend. Karen had a "no" look on her face, but answered, "Of course you will." I doubted she was being truthful. It seemed as her attitude had reverted back to normal: An attitude and down in the pits. Same o'l Karen.  
  
We decided to buy a huge bottle of lemonade, which she and I shared, while the first race began. "Would all contestants racing in Race #1 please come to the gate now." This wasn't my race yet; it would be soon.   
  
The two of us went and sat down at our seats. Karen brushed her bangs back as she took a sip of lemonade. "I'm so nervous," I told her. Karen didn't reply, but just kept on sipping, until the gun went off.  
  
The six horses down on the racetrack took off as if they had just been shot from cannons. They flew across the racetrack, the crowd beginning to cheer as they hit mid-way. "It looks like Melody has the victory in the bag," Karen mumbled. I sprung my body against the railing and darted my eyes at Melody. She did look like she was about to win. Just a few more steps, and...  
  
"Victory to Melody!"  
  
The audience cheered and applauded and I sat back down in my seat. Hurray for Melody, but would Cliff be able to pull it off?  
  
All of a sudden, I felt a glove on my shoulder. My head spun around and I saw the face of Jack. "Hey, what's up?" he asked me. I smiled and gave him a good natured hug. "Not much, really," I told him. "My race will be coming up in a few minutes." Jack loooked surprised. "You're going to be racing?" I nodded with a grin on my face. "You bet I will!" But deep down, I was doubtful.  
  
As always, Karen had abandoned me to go check if she had any winnings on her ticket that she had bid on. Jack took her seat and asked me, "What race number are you in?" I answered, "The last, thankfully."  
  
"Thankfully?" he questioned me with a bizzare look.  
  
"I don't think I'll win, that's all," was my reply.  
  
And at that second, Karen returned and said, "Ann! Just who is this?" The two of us turned around and I said, "You haven't met Jack, yet? He's the Old Man's grandson. He came to take over the farm." Karen rolled her eyes and murmured, "I guess I'll go sit over here." Karen didn't look to happy, and I said, "Umm, you can come back if you want. I'll just ask Jack to-" "OH, NO!" Karen interrupted me with a scream. "He came to see you, I shouldn't interfere!" I bit my lip. "Suit yourself."  
  
After the second race, (which was won by Star.C) I was called down to the gate. "Would all contestants racing in Race #3 please come to the gate now." I hugged Jack and stormed down to the gate.  
  
I was quickly saddled up onto Cliff, and I said to him, "If you don't fail me, boy, I won't fail you."  
  
The gun went off; the race was on.  
  
I whipped Cliff as often as I could as we charged down the racetrack. It looked like we were doing pretty well...so far. I noticed Pikls coming in from behind me and I waved to the jockey on horseback. He (or was it she?) didn't have time to express any happy gestures as the individual really wanted to win the race. I quickly took my mind off the jockey and looked straight ahead! There was the finishline!  
  
I whipped Cliff one more time and... "Victory to Cliffguard!"  
  
On the sidelines, Jack, Gray and Karen were jumping up and down, followed by a few other of the townsfolk. I can't believe that I had actually won the race. "Three cheers for Ann and Cliffguard!" "Hip, hip, HOORAY!" everyone cheered, and then repeated twice more.  
  
Yay for me. I won the Local Spring Horse Race. Who would have known?


	4. Pretty Pink Petals

**On Horseback  
**  
**Chapter 3: Pretty Pink Petals**

* * *

The day after the horse races is the first day for voting in the Town Square. From the 19th to the 22nd, everyone votes who they want as the Goddess of the upcoming Flower Festival. The five youngest women of the village are chosen -yes, even if one of them is as old as your grandmother- and everyone votes for who they want to be the Goddess for the year.  
  
Well, our village has five young women who are all the same age: Me, Karen, Elli the baker, Maria the bookworm, and Popuri the insane flower lover. I, personally, don't get too overjoyed when this festival arrives. I mean, for one, you have to wear this hideous flower outfit that may not even fit you and a photographer has to take, like, fifty pictures of you.  
  
The worst part is that the Goddess has to dance with the king. Every Autumn, the Harvest Festival is held. All the men eat cake and the one who finds a coin in his is the king until the next Harvest Festival. Last year, the Potion Shop Owner became king. Lord, if I have to dance with that seventy-year-old man...I'd rather croak.  
  
The five of us girls try and make the voting even. Each year, I vote for Karen, who votes for Elli, who votes for Popuri, who votes for Maria, who votes for me. That way, all of us get a fair chance at dancing with the king or not.  
  
But this year it seemed like it wasn't going to be the greatest year.  
  
I was out in the field the day before the Flower Festival, picking some weeds that were growing around the fences. Do I ever hate weed-picking. Gray was walking in and out of the house every two minutes, so I assumed that he was busy...if he was busy. Dad was tending to the shop. Oh, well. No use complaining about my job, or else I'd be out here even longer.  
  
Then, I saw the figure of Jack coming towards the ranch. I hadn't seen him since my victory on horseback. I was glad that he was present.  
  
I abandoned my work and ran over to Jack, who had just entered the animal farm. "Hi, Jack," I greeted him, and we shook hands. "Hello, dear Ann, I've come by to pick some fodder and a sheep. Yup, my very first sheep." I clapped my hands and said, "Congrats, Jack. I'll go get my father immediately!" I didn't know how Jack had managed to obtain 4000G (Flowerbud currency) in just three short weeks. Heck, it hadn't even been three yet! This guy had talent and a keen eye for farming.  
  
Which brought back memories...  
  
I shook my head and quit daydreaming. I opened the door to our house and walked in. "Hey," my dad said. I grinned. "Jack wants to purchase a sheep," I told him. My dad's eyes perked up. "Splendid! I don't think we've sold one since your eighteenth birthday!" "Daaaddd," I groaned, "this is no time to get nostalgic. Just go and get a sheep." My dad gave me a smirk and ran to the barn to find a sheep.  
  
Jack was in front of me when I shut the door to the house. "My dad's pleased as heck," I explained. "Good to know," Jack mumbled. He went searching through his bag and pulled out a moon drop grass, my favourite kind of flower. "Oh, wow! Is this for me?" I questioned him. Jack nodded his head up and down several times. "Wow. Thanks, Jack," I thanked him. I put the moon drop in my pocket and told him I'd find a nicer spot for it later on. He winked at me.  
  
"Okay, got the sheep," my dad said, "and I'll take it to the farm. Pay my daughter, please, Jack." The farmer handed me 4000G on the spot, and I went inside and put it in the cash register. I then came back outside and embraced my friend. "Okay, thanks for dropping by. What are you going to name the sheep?" I asked Jack.  
  
For a second, I thought Jack had gone insane, because of all the awkward faces he was giving me after I had questioned him. "Maybe...Ann." My face fell into an awkward position and I said, "Umm...yay?" We both laughed. "Okay, then I guess I'll see you later." "Okay, bye, Jack!"  
  
And with that, he left.  
  
On the 21st, the five of us women voted for each other in our usual way, and then headed off, awaiting who would be crowned the Goddess on the 23rd, which was just two days off.  
  
The two days were up. I had to get up earlier than usual, just to find out who the Goddess was going to be. I hated going through this routine every year. Oh, well, no need to complain now. I quickly got changed, ate some breakfast and ran like the wind to the Town Square. I was just hoping that I hadn't become Goddess this year...  
  
"Okay, the twenty-five votes have been cast. The woman with the most votes will be the Goddess this year," the Mayor told the five of us when we arrived. I started biting my fingers as the mayor unfolded the first vote. "The first vote goes to...Popuri." Despite her love for the festival, Popuri, too, did not want to become the Goddess due to who the king was. "Next vote...Karen." My friend looked nervous. Maybe a little too nervous. The votes continued.  
  
"Maria." "Karen." "Elli." "Elli." "Elli." "Elli." Everyone but Elli was shocked. The baker was stunned and couldn't move. She couldn't believe she had gotten four votes. Luckily, I hadn't even got one yet. "Ann," read the next vote. I shrugged. Oh, well, I'd had better gotten one vote at least, or I'd be seen as someone everyone disliked...or loved, since they didn't want me to dance with a geeky old man.  
  
"10 votes have been cast, and Elli leads with four, Karen trails with two." The Mayor pulled out the eleventh vote. "Ann." I bit my lip. Oh, lord, no more votes, please! "Elli." "Elli." Elli was completely horrified. She had six votes, now, and was most likely going to be named Goddess. "Maria." Maria still looked comfortable, as that was only her second vote. "Popuri." "Popuri." "Ann." I had received my third vote. "Ann." Oh, no. "Elli." "Elli." "The twenty-first vote..."  
  
"Elli."  
  
"Well," the Mayor said to us, "I guess that it's safe to say that Elli is this year's Goddess." Maria, Popuri, Karen and I got up and began cheered. Not for Elli, but for ourselves. None of us became the Goddess!  
  
The Mayor pulled out the last four votes, anyhow, just to see the names that were written upon them. Three of them read "Elli" (which basically made her pass out) and the remaining one read my name. "Four votes," I whispered to myself. "I suppose that's okay."  
  
Elli was quickly changed into the outfit that she would be dancing with the old guy in, and I put on my usual attire: Blue overalls with an orange t-shirt underneath it. Yes, I had become a tomboy since mom died. Without any female supervision throughout my growing years, I had learned to be tough. Ever since, I've always had a male look to myself.  
  
10 a.m. finally came around (which on the Flower Festival is, like, fifty years) and the people filed into the Town Square, where the dancing would be taking place. I was nervous. What if nobody asked me to dance with them?  
  
Jack appeared among the large crowd. That soothed my nerves. Maybe he'd ask to dance with me.  
  
The five of us girls were finally called down to the Square. We opened the door that would lead us there, and a bunch of eyes locked on us. Karen walked out first, people applauded and some booed. Popuri was second, and many were stunned that she hadn't won. I was third, and some applauded while others booed. What frightened me even more was, I wasn't sure which was better, the applauding or the booing? Maria followed last where everyone applauded.  
  
Finally, Elli arrived on the scene in the Goddess' Gown. She looked like an angel in that outfit; it made me want to rip it off of her and...no, then I'd have to dance with the Potion guy. Lord, how I didn't want to.  
  
"Now, gentlemen of the town, it's time to dance! Choose one of the four remaining women!" the Mayor called out to the crowd.  
  
All of a sudden, I saw five desperate faces appear out of no where. I knew who four of them were: Harris the mailman, who would ask Maria, my brother, Gray, who'd go for Popuri, Kai, Karen's helper at the vineyard, who'd ask her and Jack, who'd probably ask me...but there was another person. Another guy. One whom I didn't recognize. He walked up to me and asked, "Hi, do you want to-" but was cut off by Jack who bellowed, "C'mon, Ann, let's dance!"  
  
He grabbed my arm before I could reply to the stranger. Whoever he was, he walked on out of the Square, and down to what I figured would've been the beach, but that would've been too far to notice from the Square.  
  
The music started, and Elli began dancing with the Potion Shop Owner, and I took Jack through the dance. I'd done it for years, and was used to it by now. "Left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, now jump backwards!" He followed my lead. We both twirled around, and then jumped forwards. We twirled around again, and winked at each other.  
  
You got it, that was the dance. We had to repeat it fifty-seven times, non-stop which lasted for about ten minutes. Karen considered it a workout, and was off the "dance floor" within two minutes.  
  
I had never turned down an offer to dance with any guy in town. Unless he was married, old or out of my league. Okay, never mind, I was picky with guys, but Jack was someone that I had enjoyed dancing with.  
  
After the dance was over, I gave him a quick embrace and said, "Thanks, Jack! I had a super wonderful time!" Jack gave me a warm smile and said, "Umm, if you're not too busy on the last day of Spring, you wanna go for a picnic at the beach? I've always done that since I was just a wee lad." I smiled, and said, "Of course. You're a good..."  
  
I froze.  
  
My heart skipped a beat.  
  
"...Umm, wow, that felt unusual. I suppose that I can't consider you a stranger anymore. You're a friend, now."  
  
Jack was all giddy about the idea, and the Mayor announced the second dance. "You wanna go for another swing?" he asked me. I nodded. "Let's do it, boy!" We both got back on the "dance floor" and started dancing to some unusual song that I'd never heard of before. No, wait...did I? There were singers in this one. It was a gorgeous song. And something struck Jack's mind, too.  
  
He looked strange for a second.  
  
"Are you feeling okay?" I asked him. Jack looked at me for a moment and said, "I'm fine, Ann. Hmm...never mind." So, we continued dancing, but I couldn't resist listening to that song. It sounded...  
  
...Familiar?


	5. Spring Out

**On Horseback  
**  
**Chapter 4: Spring Out**

* * *

Jack and I continued to see each other on a daily basis. He'd come by the ranch and give me flowers, some medicinal herbs and even wool from his sheep! He was a good friend. I'd never met someone as nice as him.   
  
Spring 30th finally came along, which meant that the next day was Summer 1st, and the day of the Fireworks. But no time to become nostalgic or hope that the next day would come as soon as possible, but it was the day that Jack and I were going to go down to the beach and have a picnic. But I didn't know if I wanted to go through with it...it might feel too much like a real date.  
  
"Ann!" Dad called from the shop. I was in my room, doodling with scrapbooks and organizers and such. "Yes?" I asked. Appearently, my Dad didn't hear me, because the next thing that happened was that he barged into my room and said, "Ann! Get outside! There's somebody there waiting for you! And this somebody I've never seen before!"  
  
That definitely didn't sound right. Maybe another person moved to Flowerbud...  
  
I quickly ran outside and saw the guy from the Flower Festival standing outside. "Oh, hey. I think I saw you on the 23rd?" I questioned him, just to look confused. He slowly nodded. "Hi. I was just passing through." I walked over to him and asked, "You got a name, big boy?"  
  
"Don't ever call me that," was his reply.  
  
"Well, sorry."  
  
"I'm Cliff."  
  
"My name is Ann."  
  
We both shook hands and I asked him what he was doing at our ranch.  
  
"I like horses. I haven't seen any for the longest of times. And I mean looooongest of times. When I saw you win that horse race earlier this season, I knew that somewhere around here there had to be horses." I was lost. "You were at the horse races?" Cliff nodded. "Yes. You probably just didn't see me." "Okay," I said, scratching my cheek, where it itched.  
  
"Anyways, umm, I'm sorry if I make you mad, but are you...homeless?" I asked Cliff.  
  
Cliff shook his head and said, "Don't worry. Many people ask me that question. It's because of the way I dress. I'll tell you that I am definitely not homeless. I go somewhere every night. Some...where."  
  
Cliff then told a long story. A long story. About where he came from. A lot of it was about his grandmother who owned a vineyard, and that he had a piece of blonde hair that he thinks he inheirited from her. "Oh, no, it's not that it's ugly or anything, I just think that it's a little on the odd side." I nodded and he continued to tell his story. "I was born as an only child. I never had anyone but my cousin to play with. However, my cousin -no, it was me, yeah- I moved away and I haven't seen her since. The only clue that ever said that I'd find my cousin again is the line of blonde hair and a bottle of Heaven's Gate."  
  
"What is Heaven's Gate?" I asked Cliff.  
  
"Well, Heaven's Gate is a type of liquor. It's very difficult to come by. I don't know how many are left in the world. Under ten, I'm betting. If any vineyard knew how to grow that beer, then I'd know that the owners would be the family I've been searching for all my life. But...this is only if I can ever find them. My heart is set on this journey...Ann?"  
  
I looked over at Cliff, who'd made me drowsy over his long story. "Uh huh?" I said to him. But he didn't answer. He just looked around the ranch and said, "Where's that newborn colt?"  
  
My head shot up and I cried, "What did you say?!" Cliff looked a little stunned. "Umm...'where's the newborn colt?'" I didn't looked too pleased. I walked right over to Cliff and looked him in the eye, saying, "What are you? A stalker?! First the colt, then the horse racing, then the dancing and now THIS!" I could've been wrong, since Cliff ran off after I mentioned the examples. Pathetic examples, I might add. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Hmm, the next time he comes back -if he comes back- I'll speak to him about his story again. He seemed interesting.  
  
My hands were dry as the desert now, from standing outside in front of my house for so long. I marched back inside and washed them. My Dad was tending to the shop, as always. "Oh, yes, I won't be making any lunch for you, Ann, but do tell me what time Jack is coming over?"  
  
As usual, my father was treating me like I was ten-years-old. "DAD! I'll be fine! Could you freakin' stop asking me these questions?! I'm twenty-years-old! I'm sure we had a little discussion about this last time!!" My Dad nodded. "Okay, okay." He went back to tending to the shop.  
  
I exited the house at quarter to three, (the time Jack was coming by) and walked out of the ranch. I was hoping that Jack arrived right on time, I hated it when people were late.  
  
Then, Jack's figure appeared. "Hello, hello, hello!" I exclaimed. "How are you?" Jack gave me the usual cheerful smile and answered, "Doing well, well, well." I took his arm and said, "The beach, yes?" "The beach, yes." The two of us ran down to the beach, to, strangely enough, find Karen on the dock staring out at the waves. "Wow. She never comes by on Tuesdays. We'll just leave her to be."  
  
And we did. The picnic began.  
  
Jack pulled out everything that was perfect for the picnic! Sandwiches of all sorts, (which I will eat all!) coleslaw, macaroni salad and all sorts of cookies. "What do you think?" he asked me. I smiled, staring at the food. "And I have allergies to none." The two of us laughed, and Karen whirled around from the dock.  
  
"Oh, hey, Ann. And Jack. What're you two doing here?" she asked us. "Picnicing," I answered her. She nodded and said, "Well, I best not interrupt. I'll be getting back to the vineyard."  
  
Which reminded me...  
  
"Karen! Wait!" I bellowed. Karen hadn't even moved her foot, and said, "Umm, yes?" I went over to her and pulled her aside. "Ouch," she grumbled. "Well? What the hell do you want?" I giggled and answered, "Have you seen a guy around here named Cliff?" Karen's jaw dropped. "Who? My cousin? No...he doesn't live here. He lives in the city. Maybe even in the outskirts of the city." I clasped my hands and said, "He came to me today! He's looking for his family!"  
  
Yes, that's right. Karen's family and her vineyard. Oh, and Kai. But did they know how to make Heaven's Gate?  
  
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart," Karen said to me. "I'll go look for him. Here: have this as thanks." In my hand, Karen placed a shell that looked like a giant wave. "Please keep it. I've got to go. Bye." Karen took off.  
  
"Ann! What was that all about?" I blushed. "Sorry, I had to give some news to Karen. I figured I'd do it now, since it was so important." Jack nodded. "Okay, okay. I gotcha." We opened up the food from its packages, and began consuming it. And it was GOOD.  
  
Jack and I spent the rest of the day on the beach. Since the water was still too cold for swimming, we just built sand castles, which eventually got washed away with the tide. "Wow. I haven't had this much fun since...well, since the Flower Festival!" The two of us laughed and we began packing up.  
  
"Well, thank you so much for this unbelievable day!" I thanked him. Jack quickly embraced me and said, "Nothing's a charm without you." I blushed. Well, I was sure that I was blushing. "Thank you." After he let go of me, he dug into his pockets and pulled out a little locket. "Oh, Jack..." I couldn't breathe after I saw the cute little thing.  
  
"No, it's for you. Please take it." I took the locket from his palm and opened it up. It instantly began playing the song that was played at the Flower Festival. "The song when you looked confused?" I asked Jack. He nodded. "Yeah, it made me feel...real. Weird. You looked lost, too." I nodded. "Yeah, it made me feel so enchanted. I can't explain it."   
  
Jack quickly checked his watch. "Well, it's 11 o' clock." I couldn't believe that I had been out for that amount of time! "Umm...wow!" I exclaimed and the two of us chuckled at the corny joke. "Take good care of that locket," he told me. I put the locket in my pocket and said, "Nothing's better than being in good spirits!"  
  
I took off for the ranch as fast as I could. I unlocked the front door, and tiptoed in. My Dad had already gone to bed, but Gray was up and about. "Well, well, what have we here? Little Red-" I cut off my brother. "Shut up! Just shut up, Gray! Wanting to get me in trouble again? I don't think so!" I ran into my room, and locked it. The thing about having brothers. They can be so stupid. Literally. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!  
  
I went over to my dresser and set the locket down on it. Yes, that tune definitely sounded familiar! I just didn't know where it was from. Oh, well. Tomorrow is another day. And the Fireworks. Jack and I could watch it from the ranch. Karen would probably be at the beach, and I didn't like interrupting her nights alone. She barely had any.  
  
I closed the locket and got changed. It was late now. Almost 11:30, and my Dad hadn't gotten up to scold me. Thank lord. I got under my blanket and shut my light off. I hope that tomorrow was going to be a better day.  
  
Or...another better day...  
  
Or...just another day...


	6. Sunshine on My Shoulders

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 5: Sunshine On My Shoulders**

* * *

It had been a few days since the 1st of Summer. The Fireworks Festival had been great. Jack dropped by the ranch just when the fireworks were about to start. "Aren't you excited?" he asked me. "You better believe it, partner," was my reply.  
  
The fireworks started. They were beautiful. Truly magnificent. There had never been a better time of year. Well, with the exception of the Starry Night Festival, but otherwise, I loved sitting on the fence of the ranch every year and just staring up into the night sky for several hours, and eventually developing a crick in my neck. But it wasn't everyday that you got to see these gorgeous, popping bangs of light. So, it was a good crick.  
  
Jack didn't take his eyes off of them for even a second. From what I thought, he had probably never seen such a site before. After thinking about that, I chuckled a few times, but Jack just continued to stare into the sky.  
  
When the fireworks ended, (which I never look forward to) he gave me a big hug and said that he'd see me later. "See you," came my reply, and then, "keep at it."  
  
Summer 5th was today's date. Just a few days until the Vegetable Festival, my least favourite festival out of them all. All you did was go to the Square and, maybe, just MAYBE, you'll be able to sample some food. Otherwise, the gourmet judge, this fat man that always walks around town, will stuff his fat mouth with every vegetable that's within his reach. But, as always, I participate just to show my motivation around the village.  
  
Karen was infatuated with the Vegetable Festival, unlike myself. She runs straight for the tomato table and picks up as many of them as she can. Then, she gobbles them down, and quickly continues searching for any tomatoes that she may have missed. I always take as many pictures as I can at the festival.  
  
I would be, this year, too.  
  
It was 7:00 a.m. I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed. I put on my usual attire: A yellow-orange shirt with blue overalls. Red and white running shoes did me well.  
  
I walked into the shop where Dad was setting things up for the morning. "Hey, g'morning, dear." I gave my father a crooked smile and said that I would be leaving the house right away. "Hm? Why? Trying to avoid my cooking?" I chuckled and said, "No, no, no, no. Jack invited me over for breakfast. He asked me last night when he came by to visit." Dad told me to be on my way, if I was leaving, and I quickly did as he told me.  
  
While I was walking to the ranch, the sun irritated me. It may have been early, but it was hot. Hot, hot, hot. I began sweating not long after I had left my own house. "Whew. Thank lord we ain't got any humidity around these parts. I wonder what it'd be like if we did?" I questioned myself.  
  
Jack's farm was just ahead, so I quickly ignored the thought and jogged up to it and found him watering his crops. "Good morning!" I called out. Jack had a handkerchief with him, and he wiped his forehead while saying, "Hello, Ann. Hideous weather we're having, yes?" I nodded quickly and we went inside his house.  
  
"Pretty nice," I told myself. "Get any add-ons since you moved in?" Jack nodded and pointed to the nearby stairwell. "Just had it completed today. Oh, and the carpet on the ground. I bought it from Rick -your cousin- for 2000G. A fairly nice price." Jack rambled on about home extensions for a moment, and mentioned that he couldn't believe the his grandfather never had a kitchen.  
  
"No kitchen?" I asked, amazed.  
  
"No kitchen," he replied.  
  
Before I asked, Jack pulled out a breakfast that he had made in the barn. "Umm, how?" I questioned him. "I cracked the eggs and put it into this here bottle" -which he pointed to- "and then let it soak in the sun for about forty minutes. I quickly brought the eggs inside to find that they were ready. The toast I bought from the bakery. I don't have a toaster, and even if I did, a toaster doesn't require a kitchen." I laughed and then smiled. "S-so," I stammered, still filled with laughter, "We g-g-gonna eat-t?"  
  
Jack put the food on his table and I ate it, little by little. First the eggs and then the three strips of bacon (which I didn't ask where he got it or how he got it) and finally, the toast.  
  
As we ate, Jack pulled up an interesting topic.  
  
"I haven't heard any gossip in a little while. Do you know of any?" I big smile came to my face. "Actually, some new rumours and such has just been spread by Popuri, Karen and myself. The other two girls aren't gossips. Maria's a total loser, anyway."   
  
Jack didn't seem to like my disrespect for Maria. "Why? What's so bad about her?" My rubbed my hands together so hard, that I swore I was going to create smoke. "Well..." I began, trailing off just to impatient the farmer. "Tell me!" he demanded. I gave him a small giggle and whispered something that he, obviously, didn't hear.  
  
"Speak up!" Jack cried. I leaned closer to his ear and whispered, "Maria is a tramp."  
  
Jack looked up at me. "I beg your pardon? Who the hell said such a thing about her?" My eyes shifted away from his and I said, "Why do you care about Maria so much?" Jack looked hurt now. "I didn't say I did! I just can't believe you'd say such a thing. Maria is nice and generous. Even though she may be somewhat of a geek, why do you judge her by her appearance?"  
  
"Can we not get into this discussion after all?" I said, trying to change the topic. Jack gave me a smirk. "Never say that about her again!" I rolled my eyes and I spilled, "You do know that Lillia's hair is a wig, right?" My friend didn't. He said, "Who's Lillia? Popuri's mom?" I nodded. Jack burst out laughing, as did I. "That one I can believe! Who ever heard of a pink-headed family?"   
  
Besides the fact that I told Jack that Maria was a tramp, (Karen told me that! don't hold it against me!) we had an excellent time gossiping that morning about who we thought were complete phonies, freaks and true friends.  
  
Breakfast with Jack felt great. But when it ends, it ends. Which is strange, because I felt as though the next day was going to be the Vegetable Festival. I felt awkward about the whole confusion, but the Vegetable Festival did come. I knew what I was going to go for the second I got to the Square: The tomatoes. No, not because I "like" them, (which I really don't) but because I just have to take pictures of Karen going insane again. It always fills me laughter, and after that is when I go for the corn, my favourite vegetable. Well, that's assuming that there's even any left. If the gourmet judge has already been there, not just will he gain about five more pounds, but the table will also be empty. Yes, that is a disappointing thing, but it happens. Actually, it almost always happens. It's not just one of those "sometimes" factors.  
  
I woke up bright and early on the 9th of Summer. It was raining. Our festival had been washed out.  
  
My father was clearly surprised. "This is the first time I think ever that it's rained on the Vegetable Festival. But maybe it's a good thing, because the people around here are already over the weight that they should be at. WAY over, actually."  
  
I was in my bathrobe at the table, stirring my morning tea. "Well, no corn for me this year, it looks like." My father nodded. "I guess not." I barely got to eat corn, and even though we had a lot of money, it was expensive. Very, very expensive. And corn only comes in "four-corns-in-a-bag" as it's called. Altogether, that's 8000G. More than purchasing a log terrace for our yard.  
  
Yup, it's that expensive.  
  
A knock came on our door. I didn't want to answer the door. I shouldn't have, actually, since all shops are supposed to be closed on festival days. But, since it was raining, I guess it wouldn't hurt. I got out of my seat and opened the door.  
  
Jack was standing there with a pink-cat mint flower. "Oh, wow. Hello. That's pretty! Is it for my brother?" Jack burst out laughing and said, "No, actually, it's for you, my dear." I kindly snatched the flower from his hand and took a long sniff. Y-y-yeah, that's good. Like a fresh winter's day. I pulled Jack into our house and poured him a cup of coffee.  
  
"You surely can't be off to town in this weather. Plus, it's a festival day that's cancelled. Are you going to the mountains?" Jack shook his head. "Nope, I just came to deliver you this. I'm going back to bed now."  
  
I gave Jack a funny look and he said, "I'll catch you later, Ann."  
  
I watched Jack run off into the distance and sat back into my seat. "I'm going to check the mail. I'm sure that there's some interesting ads we've gotten. I mean, with the mountain carpenters back in business, again," my father said to me. I took a sip of my tea. "You do that, daddy," I said to him.  
  
My father left the house and I went into my room. The rain really began coming down then and the lightning was just horrible. I saw it flash out my window every so often. WOW! It was bright and the thunder was immensely loud. "I hope we're not going to get a tycoon," I said to myself. The weather was bad. Very bad for a summer day.  
  
Gray came into the house and knocked on my door. "Come in," I called. My brother opened the door and was carrying a cup of coffee. "Hey, I think we're gettin' a tycoon," he told me. I chuckled under my breath. I knew that I was right.  
  
"It ain't gonna be 'dat bad, though. Forecast says it should clear up sometime in 'da afternoon of tomorrow. It'd better, I gotta get back outside and feed them horses n' sheep n' cows n' such." I nodded and pulled out one of my favourite magazines. "Okay, could you please go now, Gray? I really want to read this, and you're kinda busting in on my own private space, here." Gray quickly nodded and slammed my door. Yeesh. Typical Gray. I flipped open the magazine.  
  
More thunder banged and I jumped. "This is intense," I said. "I can't even read my own magazine. I'd better look for daddy." I stepped back into the shop room and opened the door. The winds and rain were so strong that I almost flew right out. My father was coming back and threw me the mail. I caught it and thew it on the table. I grabbed his arm and we shut the door.  
  
"I am never going outside in the middle of a tycoon again!" my father declared. Heh. A tycoon. What'd I say? Aren't I so smart? "Anyways, honey, the power doesn't appear to be out or anything, so you can just-"  
  
My father had been cut off. Surprises, surprises. What else is new?  
  
The power had went out.


	7. A Classic

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 6: A Classic**

* * *

I dreaded the fact that the power was out. I needed the power; I live for the power. Arrgh, I was furious.  
  
The typhoon, though, did end the following morning. I was already wide awake and my father knocked on my door. "Hey, pumpkin, did you hear the great news?" I rolled my eyes. All news from Dad was always crummy. "What?" I asked, sounding interested. "The Vegetable Festival has been re-scheduled for Summer 12th. Isn't that great?"  
  
I wanted to throw up. This was the only year to date that I could remember that a storm hit on the Vegetable Festival, and what do they do? The whole damn thing gets re-scheduled! ARRGGH!!  
  
I walked out of my room and gave my usual morning, perky smile to my family. "Great! I assume that the vegetables aren't going to rot?" Gray choked back a laugh. I glared at him. "What? So what if I asked that question? Am I suddenly stupid now, Gray?" My brother chuckled as he got up from the table and went to his room.  
  
"Stupid kid," I muttered as he shut his door.  
  
"Oh, by the way, Ann," my father said as he poured himself a cup of coffee, "this letter came for you earlier this morning." My face lit up in joy. I hadn't received a letter in...well, actually EVER! My father handed me the letter and I tore it open, awaiting to see who it was from. The letter read:  
  
_**HEY ANN! I WAS JUST WONDERING IF YOU'D LIKE TO VISIT THE TOWN WITH ME SINCE WE HAVEN'T BEEN THERE WITH YOU YET. YOU AIN'T BUSY ARE YA? ANYWAY, I THOUGHT WE COULD GO TO THE LIBRARY TO GET US A FEW BOOKS TO READ AND MAYBE ME MIGHT VISIT THE BAKERY TO GET WE SOME YUMMY PASTRY, I HAVEN'T ATE THOSE LATELY. OH, AND ALSO WE WANTED TO GO TO YOU COUSIN'S SHOP TO GET SOME NEW TOOLS FOR THE FARMING. IF SO, I BE WAITING FOR YOU AT YOU FRONT GATE AT 10 O' CLOCK, HOLLER BACK, LASSIE!  
  
-JACK**_  
  
I didn't quite understand the letter. He must have not been taught how to write a proper letter. If someone were to ask me where he was born, I'd probably burst out laughing. "Jack wants to go to town with me at ten this morning," I told my father. Dad didn't look surprised. "What is he? Your new best friend?" I blushed and smiled. "I suppose."  
  
I ate my breakfast as fast as I could and quickly jumped into the shower. After that, I threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top. I got my sunglasses and trotted out the door.  
  
My watch read 9:55, which meant I was early. I leaned on the gate and waited for my "prince charming" to come and whisk me away into the town. At exactly 10:00, Jack came walking over. A warm smile came to his face when he saw me at the gate. "I assume you got my letter?" he asked me as he approached the gate.  
  
"Yes," I replied, "and you're very lucky that I'm standing here." I giggled. He had a lost look on his face.  
  
"Okay, so where do you want to go, first?" he asked me.  
  
I began acting all shy for a minute and replied, "I don't know. Well, I haven't been to the library in a while and I just love books." Jack grew another smile on his face. Just this time, it was bigger.  
  
The walk to the library took a few minutes. "Ahh, beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! BEAUTIFUL!" I screamed. Jack looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "Are you feeling high?" I punched Jack on the shoulder, but it was only a light punch. "Silly, I just love the sunshine." Jack laughed. "Well, after yesterday's storm, I guess that the sunshine is a pretty site." We arrived at the library and opened the door.  
  
Maria (or in my case, "the tramp") was standing behind the counter signing out some books.  
  
"Hey, Maria!" I shouted. Maria turned around, grinned, and quietly said hi. "What a tramp," I muttered to myself. Jack and I walked up to her and asked her for directions to any animal care books. She pointed to the left and rolled her eyes, as if she'd never talked to us before.  
  
"What was that all about?" Jack asked me as we approached the animal care section. "Nothing," I muttered again. Jack and I were still fighting about the whole ordeal between Maria, Karen and myself. He says that we're being too rude to her and that we should be at least friends. God, I hated picking out that topic.  
  
While Jack read the animal care, I scanned the romance section and picked up a book entitled Mid-Summer Draft. It certainly didn't sound too romantic, but I figured, "Heh. Why not?"  
  
I read away.  
  
Eventually, after a little while, Jack tapped my shoulder.  
  
"Hm? Oh, hey, are you checking that book out?" Jack laughed and said, "No, it's actually time to go, Ann." I quickly checked watch. "What? 2 o' clock? How? I've only been reading for about-" I was interrupted by Maria who yelled over my voice, "You've been reading for almost four hours! That must be a good book! A long one, too!!"  
  
Stupid tramp. How I hate her. "Will you be checking that book out?" she asked me. It was a good book. I just couldn't say no. "Umm, okay." Maria quickly scanned the book for me and said, "It's due on the 27th. Thank you; enjoy the rest of your day."  
  
Stupid tramp. Stupid, stupid, stupid tramp. Okay, now I'm getting carried away. I may hate her, but I think that I'm starting to push not just her buttons and Jack's, but mine, too. I think I'll stash that word away for a little while, now.  
  
We walked out of the library and headed for the bakery. Elli was a good baker, but her cheesecakes needed improvement. They tasted quite sour. We opened the door to the Flower Bakery.  
  
"Why! This is certainly quite the surprise! Ann and Jack!" Elli called from behind the counter. "Can I seat the two of you?" Jack nodded and said, "Anywhere is fine."  
  
Of course, anywhere really is anywhere to Elli, and she made us sit outside in her grandmother's rocking chair...yeah, wweeeiirrddd.  
  
"What can I get the two of you?" Jack quickly and promptly answered, "I'll have a strawberry cake with whip cream and a cherry on top. Tea with that, please." Elli looked at me. "I'll have water, since I drink the damn" -Jack burst out laughing- "caffine filled beverage every morning. For my course, a chocolate cake, with chocolate icing and...yeah, that's all."  
  
Elli went to get our food. While we waited, Jack and I talked mostly about the coming events.  
  
"The Swimming Festival should be good," I told my friend. Jack didn't seem too sure about that. "I'm not a swimmer; I'm not going out for it." I rolled over onto my back and looked at the clouds above us. "Why not?" Jack repeated, "I'm not a swimmer. They should have a girl's competition since all of us guys -from what I've heard- have only been able to go out for it in the past."  
  
I smiled at him, which he looked upside-down from my view.  
  
Elli arrived with our pastry, which we hungrily devoured. It was good. VERY good. Fortunately, we didn't order any cheesecake, or we'd be standing in front of our toilets throwing it up all night.  
  
After we finished our food, Jack paid Elli 800G, and we were on our way. It was late, and Rick's shop -my cousin's shop- was closed, so he walked me home.  
  
"So, how was the walk to the town today?" Jack asked me.  
  
"Fine, short, but fine," I replied.  
  
We arrived back at the ranch gate and he gave me a kiss on the cheek.  
  
"Umm, Jack?" I said, looking at him. He looked back at me and stared into my eyes for a minute. "Yes?" he asked. I looked at him for a moment. "Umm...well, thanks for the goodnight kiss." I blushed. He blew me a kiss and was on his way.  
  
I walked into the house and Dad was reading the newspaper. "You could have told me that you'd be out all day," my father joked as I took my sandels off. "Today was marvellous," I sang as I skipped into my room. Dad must have been stunned because the last thing I remember hearing before I shut my door was, "Ooookay."  
  
Well, that was it, again.  
  
Another day gone.  
  
Lights outs.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
  
Very short chapter! A quick day in the town, that's all. Next chapter will be longer, I promise, and more in depth with Cliff, too. Read and review, please! 


	8. Birthday Wishes

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 7: Birthday Wishes**

* * *

The Vegetable Festival (as I figured) sucked! I was at the town gathering for about ten minutes and left. Yup, I snarfed down a few corns and left. I didn't take any pictures of Karen gobbling her tomatoes down. I just ate some corn and left. Talk about a boring festival, I'm never going to that one again!  
  
Now, it's Summer 13th.  
  
I'm not too big of a fan of this particular date, only because the next day would be my birthday! My reasons are obvious: The day just goes on and on and on and on and...I just want the next day to arrive as soon as possible! I've always struggled through the 13th, but not this year. Since Jack was around, we always did enjoyable activites to pass the time.  
  
"Hey, Ann!" Jack called out to me that afternoon. I was sitting in my room with the bedroom window open, and was curling my hair. I looked left, out the window to see Jack. Yup, my vanity just had to be so darn close to my window!  
  
"Hello, Jack, lovely weather we're having today, eh?" I asked him as he approached the window. At the question, he stuck his tongue out and said, "Not really. It's currently 26 degrees. Tomorrow's temperature is supposed to be 29 degrees. H-H-HOT!" he exclaimed. I laughed and looked back at the mirror.  
  
"Do you want a lemonade or anything?" I asked Jack.  
  
The farmer nodded his head. "Please."  
  
I quickly got out of my chair and spun it around (I love those kind of chairs!) before leaving the room. I walked into the shop where my father was holding two glasses of lemonade. I giggled. "You read my mind, daddy!" Dad shook his head, however. "No, Ann, I was eavesdropping." An angry look appeared on my face. "Dad! What have I-" "I was joking, Ann!" my father yelled so that I'd stop. Yeesh. Fathers.  
  
The lemonade was wonderful. Jack drank his within seconds while I still had my lemon perched on the side of my glass. "Well, you certainly were thirsty!" I told him. "Sure was, got any more?" Silly old Jack. "Yeah, yeah, hold your horses."  
  
The two of us continued to chat for the rest of the day. We were out in the ranch fields at around 6 o' clock that night, when Jack and I decided to take Cliffguard for a race.  
  
"Are you positive about this?" I asked him. Jack nodded his head several times. "C'mon, Ann, I mean, what could really happen? Besides being thrown off horseback -which I truly do hate- and landing in the mud, relieved to discover that your neck hasn't broken. That's happened many times to some of the world's famous jockeys."  
  
I laughed when Jack finished his little speech. "Great! Now can we go and ride around?"  
  
Jack was the jockey and I was sitting behind him. One thing that I truly do hate is when I have to stare at the back of someone's head all day. Well, this was sort of an exception, considering that I'd be looking all over the ranch. I turned my head sideways to see the barn and my house just at the other end of our property. Jack said, "Let's go!"  
  
Suddenly, Cliffguard had to have freaked out. He began charging all over the ranch. "NO! You stupid horse, don't take me to the beach again!" I shouted at my confused animal friend. And then, he took off down towards the exit of the ranch.  
  
"EEKK! Stop, stop, STOP!" I shouted and Jack tried his best, but we sailed right out into the crossroads, and, as if controlled by some magic spell, Cliff ran right into Jack's farm. "I swear if we ever get down from here..." I began, but my voice trailed off as the two of us -like Jack had said- were thrown off horseback.   
  
I flew through the air, afraid to close my eyes. I was gliding right towards Jack's water hole. "Oh, lord, of all things!" I cried. Then, the next thing I heard was a big SPLOOSH!  
  
Jack limped over to the watering hole and found me floating in it, me looking up at him. "Can the two of us never ride on Cliff again? That was about the stupidest thing we've ever done!" Jack tried to let out a chuckle, but he couldn't, and fell to the ground with a large thud.  
  
I lifted myself out of the water. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, until someone entered the ranch.  
  
"Hey! HELP! HELP ME, PLEASE!" I screeched out. The figure in the distance quickly began jogging towards Jack and I. Then I could tell who it was. It was the vagabond, Cliff. "Cliff! Oh, I haven't seen you since the end of Spring! Where've you been?! Please help me! Me and Jack -Jack and I, sorry- were riding on horseback when-"  
  
Cliff stopped me. "Ann, please slow down." I nodded and he told me to skip the story and just to take Jack to my house, since we didn't want to take his keys from his pockets. It would make Cliff and I seem like criminals or something. "Fine, you carry his head and I'll carry his legs. Let's do this as fast as possible. When we're done with him, I'll come back to get my horse."  
  
The two of us took Jack to my house where my father was alarmed. "Ann! What have I told you about Cliffguard? You're supposed to be very careful with him! Not be a freaking menace!!" I squinted my eyes as tears began to develop. "Sorry, daddy, where can we take Jack?" Dad was not happy and neither was Gray when he found out that Jack would have to sleep on the sofa in his room.  
  
I was ordered to go and get Cliffguard (even though I knew I'd have to get him) and return quickly. I walked with Cliff back to the farm.  
  
"Sorry, my daddy's been a little crazy lately," I told my friend. Cliff didn't seem to mind, though, as he just said, "Uh huh" or nodded whenever he got the chance to sneak it into our conversation. When we arrived at the farm, Cliff changed the subject.  
  
"Karen's told me that your birthday is tomorrow. How old will you be turning? I mean, it's okay if you don't want to tell me." I shook my head. "It's okay, Cliff. I'll be 21. T-W-E-N-T-Y-O-N-E." Cliff let out a laugh. "It's okay, I can spell." I mounted Cliffguard and got my whip out. "Oh, Ann," Cliff said. I turned to look at him. "Yeah?" I questioned him.  
  
All of a sudden, this velvet box appeared in his hands. "Since Karen told me about your birthday, I decided to buy you a ruby ring." I was absolutely stunned. Talk about a guy who's known me for - oh, two weeks? Then he goes out and buys me this pretty ruby ring. It was glittering and shining and I just had to give him something in return.  
  
I jumped off the horse and told him, "You come to my party tomorrow, mmkay?" Cliff got a dazzled look on his face. "Please, just come." I quicjly kissed his cheek and he shut his eyes and mumbled something under his breath, of which I couldn't understand.  
  
"Adios!" I called out to him.  
  
Not too many people were invited to my birthday party. Just a few people I knew, a few friend's of my brothers and my Dad's best friend. Or, to make this easier, the list consists of: Jack, Karen, Cliff, May (a little girl who lives in town), Stu (May's best friend), Popuri, Jeff (Elli's friend) and Sasha, Karen's mother.  
  
Yup, that wasn't the longest list in the world, but eight people were good to go.  
  
Jack was the first one to arrive...as he woke up in Gray's room. I quickly spared him the details by saying, "You hit your head real hard last night, and I didn't want to open your house door because I'd have felt evil by taking your keys. So, here we are." Jack laughed and gave me a bear hug. If it could've been any tighter, I would have choked to death.  
  
At 9 o' clock, Sasha, Karen and Cliff arrived. My father gave Sasha a good natured hug and I gave two gigantic hugs to Karen and Cliff. "Where's the cake?" Karen asked me. The three of us laughed. "Don't worry, we'll be serving it a little later. As for now, we're just waiting for Stu, May, Jeff and Popuri." Karen looked amazed. Probably because I'd mentioned Popuri's name. "Why is she coming? You guys don't even talk to each other!" A smirk came to my face and I purposely stammered, "G-G-r-ay, r-r-em-em-b-b-b-ber?"  
  
The Potion Shop Owner (EEK!) brought May and Stu and said that he'd pick them up around 4 o' clock. The two best friends (who are not related in any sort of way) began playing tag and asked Karen and I to join in. My best friend made a "please, no" face. But I insisted that the two of us played with them. Both of them were only seven-years-old!  
  
Jeff arrived with Popuri a few minutes later. It was 9:15. Everyone arrived within reasonable times and my father gave everyone a noisemaker. "Let's celebrate Ann's twenty-first birthday!"  
  
The fields were crowded with tables that were full of food, punch and balloons with my face on them. The thought of having your face on balloons always scared me, but now I feel as though it's an okay feeling.  
  
Karen stuffed her face with chips and raisins and donuts of all kinds. Talk about a pig. Cliff was more on the mild side. He ate small portions of food. Of course, May and Stu ate as much as they could. The rest of us ate fair amounts of food. Not too little but not too much. And even though there were at least twenty tables with food on them, a lot of it disappeared, surprisingly.  
  
At around 2 o' clock in the afternoon, the cake was severed. It was a strawberry cake topped with chocolate icing with little plastic bells on it. My favourite part is when I get to soak up the attention.  
  
...In other words, when everyone starts singing happy birthday!  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANN!" my family cried. Then, all of my friends started singing. "Happy birthday to Ann! Happy birthday to Ann! Happy twenty-first birthday to Ann! Happy birthday to Ann!" I blushed after they'd finished singing.  
  
"Okay, Ann, it's time for you to open your presents!" Gray announced. That was one of the few times that Gray exclaimed something! Heh, heh. My ripped open my present from Sasha and Karen. WOW! It was a bottle of wine! I laughed a lot when I saw it, and so did everyone else! What else could you expect from Karen?   
  
Popuri got me some poppuri...no pun intended. I didn't really need it, as I fall asleep quite easily, but I guess I'd store it away if I ever needed it for future cases or something.  
  
Jeff, without a surprise, got me some tea and cookies from the bakery. The cookies were my favourite kind. Lemon creme. Yuuuuuumm. I'd have to greedily eat them all up once everyone left the party.  
  
Cliff had already gotten me my present, which I announced to everyone and a big "AWWWW" came from them. Cliff smiled and tried to get me to get to May and Stu's gift, which I was assuming was something all cutey-ish and precious.  
  
"Oh, WOW! WOW!" I cried. Was it ever something cutey-ish and precious! It was a doll! It looked just like me! I was speechless. Clearly speechless. The doll looked just like me, but with a wedding gown on. I hugged Stu and May and thanked them. I'd have to put it on my bookcase later on.  
  
Jack was the last one to give me a present. For a few seconds, I saw a glittering blue. I was alarmed! Until I saw that it was only a globe that was glittering blue. "Oh, Jack, how sweet." I quickly hugged him, and my Dad said that it was time to cut the cake.  
  
I walked over to the table where the cake was, dragging Jack in one hand and Cliff in the other. "You two sweet young men are going to help me cut this delicious piece of pastry!" Jack blushed and Cliff said, "Okay, Ann."  
  
I grabbed the knife and gave it to Cliff. He cut one side of it. My father took a photo of that at the exact moment. Then, Jack took the knife and sliced the opposing side of the cake. My father took another, what I figured, excellent shot. Finally, I cut the cake. And my father took an excellent, sweet photo.  
  
We all ate, and many of my friends complimented Jeff on the excellent cake. He bowed, like he was a grand master chef, and we all laughed. Things were going great!  
  
At 4 o' clock, everyone headed home. Karen, Cliff and Sasha said 'bye, and Jeff quickly left after they did. The kids left when Stu's grandfather arrived. I still EEK! over that. Finally, Gray took Popuri home, while I said goodbye to Jack.  
  
"See you in the morning! Don't forget about me!" I laughed and he waved goodbye as he walked back to his farm, and disappeared into the distance.  
  
What a great birthday. It had seemed like a birthday for a twelve-year-old!  
  
That's what made me sho happy; I was young at heart.  
  
I can't wait until my next birthday!


	9. The Way to a Woman's Heart

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 8: The Way To A Woman's Heart**

* * *

Summer is a great time for swimming. One of the reasons I look forward to the end of the season so much is because of the Swimming Festival. The competition is for males only, and the name says it all. It's a swimming competition. It's too bad that females can't participate, but it's not like I'll die thinking over that fact.  
  
The Firefly Festival on the 17th, was saddening. It always has been for me. The festival is based on guiding the spirits of your ancestors back to heaven, by lighting the path with floating flower candles on the sea.  
  
I stood on the dock just looking up at the stars for about one hour or so wishing that my mother would come back and be with me. It's sad that she won't ever be, though. Karen was thinking about her grandparents and great-grandparents, while Popuri was thinking about her grandmother's dream to continue running the flower shop that they, well, run.  
  
Elli was thinking about both of her parents. They'd both passed away when she was just two-years-old. Finally, Maria was thinking about her grandparents. They had originally started the library before she was even born. Not that I care about such a tramp.  
  
Jack and I talked about both of our mothers. I had found out that his mother died of lung cancer when he was only nine-years-old. The thought scared me. Having a mother who had to suffer through a painful death, whereas mine just died very quickly. It sends shivers down my spine whenever I think about it. Eeeeek. Truly scary. Brrrr.  
  
Today's date is the 19th. The Swimming Festival is held on the 24th. All the males were practicing for competition. Except, strangely enough, Jack and Cliff weren't.  
  
"You're not going to participate?" I asked Jack one day, while helping him harvest some corn. It was a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon. The two of us were discussing the festival and other topics.  
  
"Yes, I will participate. I just don't have enough time to practice. I mean, if I lose, so be it." I laughed at his comment and gave him one of my warmer smiles. "Oh, and if I win, then I'll give you 5000G to spend in any sort of way that you want!"  
  
I seemed surprise at that, but there was no way that I was going to turn down free money! "Then I hope that you win!" I exclaimed and it was Jack's turn to laugh. "If I do, then I do."  
  
A few minutes later, Karen and Cliff came walking into Jack's farm. "Hey, Ann! Jack!" Cliff called out to the two of us. I looked over to see two of my friends walking over. "Yo, guys, how are you doing?" Karen shrugged. "The vineyard's doing well, surprisingly." After Karen said that, Jack's eyes perked up. "Then my prayers worked!"  
  
Karen's head shifted toward Jack. "What?" she asked, sounding stunned. Cliff came over to me and handed me a pink cat mint flower. "Oh! Cliff! These are so rare to come by! For me?" Cliff nodded. "Please, Ann, do take it."  
  
Cliff and I began talking for a few minutes, and Karen was with Jack. She began blushing quite a bit, and put her hands together, as if she was praying or something. "But?! Oh lord, Jack, I don't know...I just don't know what to say."  
  
Karen was showing one of her more gentle sides. She began dancing around and screaming, "Jack put our vineyard back together! AHHHH!" I seemed pretty frightened. Karen hadn't been this happy since we got out of high school.  
  
Jack began walking around as if he was trying to defend himself, trying to catch Karen. Thank the lord he was standing right where she tripped, and he caught her in his arms. "Karen! Can you calm down?"  
  
I shrugged and went back to harvesting. Cliff, having nothing else to do (I assumed, anyways) decided to help me pick the corn.  
  
"Come on, we've got to dance! COME ON!" Karen cried as I continued to harvest. She began dancing with Jack to that same tune that was played at the Flower Festival. Yep, that's the dance to the song that was playing.   
  
"Have you ever danced with the one you truly love?" Cliff suddenly asked me. I looked up at him. What a question, coming from him.  
  
"We-ll..."  
  
"You don't have to answer the question. I mean - there may not even be anyone you love."  
  
I decided to go with the polite comment that Cliff said. "Yeah, I don't love anyone. Not yet, anyway." Cliff and I continued to stare at each other. I couldn't remove my eyes from his face. Well, not until Karen toppled over me.  
  
"EEK!" I cried. The corn that was in my hand flew and hit Cliff in the face. "Why! Ann, you don't go around throwing fresh vegetables at people!" From underneath Karen, I murmured, "I wish I could hear you, and I wish that Karen would get off of me!!"  
  
Karen quickly helped me get up...and Cliff threw the corn at me, which hit my ear!  
  
"Cliff! You nasty little devil!" I shouted, sounding shocked, even though I wasn't. Jack picked up some corn and began throwing it at the three of us. "Yikes!" we all cried.  
  
"HA! Got you real good, there! Just try and get me!" Jack exclaimed and began running around all of his either prior-picked vegetables or his pre-picked vegetables. "Nananana, you can't catch me. Come on! Not even gonna make an effort? You're all so boring! Nananana!" he cried out at us while he continued to dance and prance around all of the veggies.  
  
Karen picked up a corn and threw it at him. It landed on his head. "Why, Karen! I never knew that "fun" was your middle name! You're going to enjoy this little corn up your left nostril!" And with that, the corn, DID fly into Karen's left nostril!  
  
I decided to just join in. The four of us were constantly throwing corn around at each other. "Watch that you don't land on my tomatoes! Or else you're going to have to feel my evil wrath!" cried Jack as he threw a corn at me. I quickly dodged it and it hit Karen in the face.  
  
"You're damn lucky we're not using tomatoes!" she screamed at the farmer. Jack laughed but fell down once a corn sent special delivery by Cliff whizzed right into his right leg.  
  
"Lord, Jack, you suck! You truly suck!" I shouted. Jack walked over to the watering hole that I'd fallen in a few nights back. "Don't EVEN!" Karen screamed at him. She seemed pretty serious too. Unfortunately, Jack had already tossed a big bucket of water at us. Cliff avoided it, but Karen and I were surrounded with water.  
  
"Jack! Just watch me deal with you!" I yelled at him in my most macho voice. "Does anyone have anything that I can whap this kid with?" Cliff burst into laughter, and Jack sent a bucket of water that reached Cliff this time.  
  
At that moment, we went on a water rampage, and the four of us chased each other around the farm. It was funny, and I loved it.  
  
When it began to get dark, Jack looked at his crop fields. It wasn't as messy as he thought it would be, but it was fairly messy. "I'll get this cleaned up in a jiffy. I'll catch you guys tomorrow or whenever."  
  
Karen, Cliff and I walked to the crossroads and said goodbye to each other, and I headed down the path back home, to the Green Ranch.  
  
The next morning, I woke up to another wonderful sunny day. "Ahh! Such a splendid morning, yet again!" I cried as I opened my window...to find Cliff looking in right at me. "Ann, you forgot to tell me something yesterday!" I began laughing and looked at the clock on my vanity. "Cliff, it's only 6:30 a.m.! Could you come back a little later? Please?" Cliff nodded, and said, "Sorry to bother you so early."  
  
I quickly got changed into a tank top and put on a skirt. I hadn't worn one since I'd gotten out of high school. But I decided to put on a more girly look today. My father almost spilled his morning coffee when he saw me in the attire.  
  
"Ann! What on earth are you doing in a skirt?!" I decided to play dumb with my father. "I don't know. To surprise you?" Dad didn't like when I said that, so I quickly said, "To wear something new for once! It's not like I have a pathetic record or anything! You know that, daddy!"  
  
My father replied, "I didn't get a word that you said. 'To have a pathetic record'?" I blushed. "Let's pretend that I never said that, mmkay?" I opened the door and said 'bye to my Dad. I slammed the door and ran down the street to the crossroads. As I'd figured when I came to Jack's house, he was outside cleaning up our mess from yesterday.  
  
"Hey, Jack. I'd love to help this morning, but I can't." Jack looked up at me and said, "And a good morning to you, too. Nice skirt, never seen you in one of 'em before." I grinned a big smile. "You have now, Jacky!" I exclaimed. Jack chuckled and handed me a corn. "No, this is not from yesterday, I just picked it now. Enjoy!" I smiled. How I love corns...drool.  
  
I told Jack that I'd be spending the day with Cliff, and said that I'd come by later.  
  
I ran to the gate of the vineyard where Cliff was standing. He looked at me and said, "Hmm...6:45. Later, eh? I knew you'd come by early!" I laughed and told him that I wanted to go to the square. "The square? Whatever for?" he asked me. I winked at him. "It's always quiet there, exception of the festivals."  
  
Cliff and I agreed to go to the square. We sat down on the benches once we got there. "At this time in the morning, there's never anyone here. So, what better time to come, eh, Cliff?" My friend looked at me for a second and said, "Hey. I never knew that you had such pretty eyes! They make me feel...dreamy...dreamy." I felt special for a moment. But that was a quick thing for Cliff to jump to. We sit down, and all of a sudden he gets...romantic. I couldn't resist; should I go in for it?  
  
"Remember when you asked me about sitting under the sun...no, that was dancing. Whatever. Anyways, ARGH! Here, just let me deliver!"  
  
My lips were getting all wet, so I quickly moved into his lips. All of a sudden, he must have seemed stunned by my sudden movement. But he didn't throw me off of him or anything. Actually, I think he was enjoying the...kiss. We just sat there for a moment, lips still stuck on each other, enjoying each other's company. I didn't want to leave the dream that I was currently dreaming.  
  
Cliff...was I falling in love with him?

But...what about...Jack?


	10. Swimmer Winner

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 9: Swimmer Winner**

* * *

The kiss. The kiss. The kiss. The kiss. I kept repeating those words in my head until the day of the Swimming Festival. All the males, even Jack and Cliff, began to practice for the competition. At this point and time, they'd all wanted to win. The prize was going to be something called a pig figurine of some sort. Yes, I forgot its name.  
  
Finally, the Swimming Festival date arrived. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and quickly rushed into the shop. I wanted to eat and be out of the house as fast as possible. I knew that Gray would be leaving early too, as he was one of the competitors.  
  
"Do you think that you'll win?" I asked my brother as we munched on our breakfast, consisting of my father's special egg recipe and some of our cow's fresh milk. Gray played with his food for a moment, and then answered, "I ain't gonna beat Kai." My brother had quite the low self-esteem. He probably was going to lose, but I didn't want him to be discouraged, and told him to do his sidestroke. That was the only move that he could quickly do in the water.  
  
Gray nodded and wolfed down a huge egg, with the yolk dripping from it. "EW!" I shouted. My brother just ignored the dripping goo and continued to eat his breakfast. I finished my plate first and quickly put it into the sink. I was so anxious about getting out of the house that I forgot to get changed.  
  
"Ann! I'm sure that you want to get there ASAP, but I'm not letting you leave the house clothed in your pajamas," my father told me, while giggling. I looked down and recognized my dinosaur nightgown. I gave my Dad an evil smirk saying, "Why, thank you. How stupid of me," and walking back into my room, where I quickly changed. I put on jeans and a red tank top with a pink lily on it. Then, I ran to the beach.  
  
The Mayor was the first person to arrive at the beach. Maria was always there, helping her father set things up for the big race! I decided to be nice to her for once, and walked over to the bookworm.  
  
"Hello, lovely weather today, eh, Maria?" I asked the shy tramp. Maria adjusted her glasses and said, "Um, why are you being so nice to me today? It's not my birthday, you know." I wanted to shout, "Am I not even allowed to be nice to you for once? Golly!" but instead, I said, "No, your birthday is in the winter, right?" Maria nodded. "And how do you know that?"  
  
I looked at her in the eyes and was ready to call her a tramp again, but I felt Karen's gentle touch on my shoulder. "No communicating with stupid tramps! Come on, Ann!" Karen exclaimed. Maria rolled her eyes and said, "For a twenty and a twenty-one-year-old, you both act as if you're fourteen-year-olds in high school. Please, get away from me and go get a life."  
  
The two of us laughed. "Maria, why do you wear glasses?" Karen asked the librarian. Maria hesitated, but answered, "I need them." Karen laughed again and said, "You'd look a lot better if you got rid of them! Not that it'd do much good for you, though!" The two of us burst into laughter, until Maria said, "It's not like a mirror has ever broken before. What about you, Karen?"  
  
Karen looked stunned. Even though that wasn't much of an insult, Maria gave us a grin and said, "Smarten up, both of you." Then, she walked off.  
  
I looked at my best friend and she said, "I can't believe it. She knew about the mirror breaking." My eyes nearly popped out of my head. How could I have forgotten about the day when - err, anyway. I promised Karen that I'd never tell anyone. But I'd never told Maria, how did she know about it?  
  
Just as Karen was about to bring up another topic about Maria, Kai appeared next to the two of us. I hadn't seen him in a long time. He was wearing the purple bandana that he almost always wore. "I'm ready to win!" Karen leaned over to him and said, "Shut up, Kai. Ann and myself are discussing some very important talk at the moment."  
  
My brother arrived a few minutes later, Cliff quickly running in behind him and finally, Jack. The farmer looked around before he spotted me and walked over.   
  
"I heard that you kissed Cliff," were his first words. I laughed. "Sure did! I couldn't help myself! We'd went out on our first date! After our moment to remember, we went fishing at the base of Moon Mountain. Ah, I love moments like those that are memorable to remember. After that, he walked me back home, and was gone...anyways, who told you?"  
  
Jack pointed at Karen who blushed. "You never told me that I couldn't tell anyone else! Cliff doesn't really seem to mind!" My ex-vagabond friend came over a second later and said, "Okay, so, if I win, I'll take you out to dinner!" Jack gave me a toothy smile and said, "5000G for you if I win!"  
  
If Jack or Cliff won, at least I'd get some kind of reward. Cliff's surely was better than Jack's...  
  
"Swimmers, take your positions!" the Mayor called out.  
  
I quickly scanned the beach. It looked like the whole town came down for the competition, but that would never happen. I saw a lot of people that I knew, some I didn't but seen before, and some that I'd never even met! And I thought that our village was small! Strange.  
  
All the males approached the starting line and threw their shirts off in different directions around the beach. "Swimmers, we have a new rule this year! Instead of having just one race to the finish, the first four to make it out to the buoy will advance to the next round! I will explain the rules to the second competition after our first! Okay, swimmers ready!"  
  
I took my sandals off and stepped into the water, just as the mayor got a red-white-and-green flag and shouted, "GOOOOO!" The men took off.  
  
Kai, as I'd figured, acquired a quick lead, with Gray not too far behind him. Harris was quite far behind Gray, which meant all of the other guys were behind him, but all neck-in-neck. I liked the idea of making a second round this year. All the previous competitions were done so quickly, and I'd always go home and go right back to bed, since the festival would already be over.  
  
Jack was in fourth. He was doing the butterfly stroke, which didn't seem to suit him too well, and was struggling to get any further. Jeff was in last place, which didn't bother me too much. He only came to my birthday party because of my father. They were best friends, basically.  
  
Kai hit the buoy first, which I'd figured. Once he did, Karen had a fit and ran around the beach screaming, "YES! WOOHOO, KAI!" After that, I saw Gray hit the buoy and it was my turn to jump around and celebrate.  
  
Harris hit the buoy third, which meant that either Jack or Cliff were out. From the looks of how things were going, Jack was probably going to be fourth. By now, Jeff had just given up completely, and had swam back to shore.  
  
As I'd expected, Jack hit the buoy fourth. That meant that Cliff was out.  
  
Cliff didn't seem to really mind, except that he kept shouting, "Sorry that I can't take you out to dinner, Ann!" as he swam back to shore. I didn't really care, now the only other prize that was up for grabs was Jack's 5000G.  
  
The four competitors swam back to shore. The Mayor explained the rules for the second round. "You must swim around the buoy once you reach, it, and then come back here, touching the rope that I will lay on the ground once you guys take off. The first two back will move into the final round."  
  
Harris, Kai, Jack and Gray got ready for their second take-off. "Okay, men, get ready, get steady, get ready and steady, and GO!" screamed the Mayor as he lowered the flag.  
  
Kai stumbled as he ran into the water, giving the other three a big advantage at getting into the top two. Gray swam with all of his might, doing the sidestroke, like I'd told him too. Harris was just swimming like mad and Jack was doing his butterfly stoke again, but it was working this time. He was leading the four of the guys!  
  
Jack swam around the buoy first, Kai seconding that. Gray was in third, but pushed forward. He wasn't going to give up, and I wasn't going to let him give up, or he'd have to deal with me afterwards!  
  
Jack, amazingly, crossed the finish line first, Gray and Kai neck-in-neck. It was truly going to be a close race, and...it looked like Kai was going to win it. But, at the last second, Kai breathed in and took with him a large doze of water, freezing him where he was in the water. Karen gasped, but I screamed as Gray crossed the finish line second!  
  
I ran down to where the two guys were standing and gave Gray the biggest kiss I'd ever given anyone. He had to shoo me away to stop. I embraced Jack and told the Mayor to start the final race.  
  
"Actually, there's a twist. The person who came in last place in the first race will race with the final two." Everyone perked up and began conversing. That meant Jeff was going to race, but he wasn't really going to win, was he? "Prizes will now be handed out. Third place" -the Mayor looked at Jeff who was blushing- "will receive a free membership to the restaurant on top of Moon Mountain. Second place will win a tour of my house. Yes, the Mayor's house. First place will receive two tickets to the city."  
  
Everyone was interested in all the prizes. Third place sucked, though, as no one was able to get to the top of the mountain, due to the bridge that recently collapsed. Jeff was most likely going to win it. Everyone was really interested in the two tickets to the city.  
  
"Men, get ready!" the mayor shouted. "And GO!"  
  
The three competitors raced out to the buoy. Gray pulled a quick lead, but Jack was determined to win those tickets. They both did backstrokes to the buoy, and then butterfly stokes on the way back. Jeff quickly gave up, and was rewarded with the Moon Mountain restaurant free memberships. He had three of them: One for himself, one for Elli and one that he gave to Kai, for some reason that I was oblivious to.  
  
Gray crossed the finish line by one centimetre. I screamed, I was so damn happy! My brother had never won the Swimming Festival before, and now he finally does! I gave him another smooch on the cheek and he shook my hand, trying to get me off of him.  
  
I embraced Jack again, who smiled and then pecked me. Heehee. After that, Gray was awarded the tickets and he held them in the air, not saying a word.  
  
But, was he really going to use those tickets to the city? Probably not, he'd give them away to another person in the village. I didn't know who that would be, though. But for now, I was content. Gray won and Kai didn't. Jeff came third! Oh, my! Harris came fourth! I was happy for him the most, as he was unable to compete in last years competition. But...  
  
...Unfortunately, Jack didn't win. Coming in second meant...  
  
...No 5000G for me. Dammit.


	11. Summer Out

**On Horseback  
  
Chapter 10: Summer Out**

* * *

I woke up on Summer 29th feeling rather depressed. Summer was almost over, and it was my favourite season of the year. I'd better spend the next few days doing something exciting, then.  
  
Gray still had the two tickets to the city. He said that he was going to use them, which amazed me. He said that he was going to go next season, Autumn, due to the fact that it's his favourite season of the year. Popuri was going with him too, so that she could get away from her depression: No flowers or any big green life during the season. She'd better enjoy her trip.  
  
The shop smelled of delicious coffee beans that morning.  
  
"What's the occasion, pop?" I asked Dad. My father was pouring coffee into every mug we owned. "Hm, sweetie?" he replied. "Oh, yes, the Mayor's coming over later this afternoon with me. We're going to be chatting about a new building that we'd like to construct on the water."  
  
I gave Dad my usual smile and then said, "Well, I'll be going out now. See you later." I waved to my father as I exited the house, and stepped into the unusually cool air.  
  
Cliffguard was out in the field running around. I blew him a kiss and walked out to the crossroads. I walked into Jack's farm, and he was harvesting which appeared to be the last of his tomatoes and the last of his corn. The plants would have to come down now, or they'd wither in the autumn weather.  
  
"Need any help?" I called out to my friend. Jack looked over at me and cried, "No problem, Ann! I just finished all of my chores for today! Do you want to go anywhere?"  
  
Before I could reply, I froze for a minute.  
  
My heart skipped a beat.  
  
"Ouch...Oh, Jack. Whenever I see you now, I feel - flirtatious..." I murmured under my breath. Then I looked back up and said, "What the hell is wrong with me? He's just a great friend! That's all!" to myself.  
  
Jack came over to me and handed me some wool. My eyes nearly popped right out of my head. "Oh! JACK! You shouldn't have!" I rubbed the wool in my face and my arms over and over before I decided what I was going to do with this.  
  
"So, yeah, where do you want to go?" he asked me again. I pondered for a minute. "The tour of the Mayor's mansion is already over and there's no where to go in the mountains anymore. Dating -or just site-seeing- is becoming awfully hard, and only because we have few attractions. The restaurant is out though, because of that damn bridge that collapsed on the mountain."  
  
Jack looked at me in an oblivious state and then said, "Well, Summer is almost over, why not we go down to the beach?" I smiled and said, "Oh, yes. Why not?"  
  
Jack decided that it would be like a picnic again, and decided to pack more food than last time, as I was twice as hungry. I'm never going to skip breakfast again. "What are you packing?" I asked him. Jack grinned, an evil grin, and answered, "Ah, but you'll see at our arrival of the beach."  
  
Picnics were always so suspenseful, just to see what's there to eat in the basket full of goodies. He opened it up to reveal the meals-to-end-all-other meals. I was delighted! Chicken, coleslaw, sandwiches of all kinds, organic grapes (I'm guessing from Karen's vineyard), pickled turnips and a pitcher-sized bottle of limeade. This was going to be a great picnic!  
  
I pulled out all that I wanted to eat, and began devouring it. It was either Jack who cooked this, or Elli. Elli was the greatest cook I'd ever met. She could create any dish without messing it up. This could've been her cooking. "Jack, did you cook all of this?"  
  
"Of course I cooked this!" Jack exclaimed gleefully. "Why do you ask?" I looked him in the eye for a moment. I wasn't going to tell him what I really thought, so I said, "It's absolutely delicious!" I embraced him again, and fell into the coleslaw.  
  
After eating, I quickly ran back to my house (which was a two-minute walk away) to get my swimsuit. This was going to be fun, as the season was coming to an end.  
  
Jack and I both jumped off the dock at the same time, and hit the water pretty hard. Jack looked as if he was in pain for a few seconds, but ended up not being. I was okay, but could've sworn I was going to get a bruise on my left leg.  
  
We swam for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and, yes, hours. The sun was already setting by the time that we dried off and said goodbye to each other.  
  
"Be at my house by 11:00 a.m. sharp!" I called to him and I went inside.  
  
The last day of Summer, Summer 30th, looked like it was going to be pretty mild. Forecasts call for mild weather somewhere in the 20s with overcast skies in the evening. Rain was predicted for the following day, which, if I remember correctly, is Elli's birthday!  
  
I had to buy her a present, but couldn't interfere with my schedule with Jack. I'd get her something later in the afternoon. That's a thought that I'd have to hang on to, if I could. Birthdays could be so hard to remember, thank the lord that Elli's is on the first day of a season. That's what makes her's so easy to remember.  
  
"Hello, Annie-pie," Jack greeted me the next morning. I was still in my room, again, brushing my hair, but changed this time. "Hey! I'll be out in a moment."  
  
We decided that we were going to go visit Popuri at the flower shop. She was becoming more of a friend to me, now. All because of Gray, though. But still, we were becoming friends. Except that she didn't like picking on Maria, which I cursed her for under my breath, but continued on with life.  
  
We enter her mother's shop, Florist Lillia, and was greeted by none other than Lillia herself. "Hey guys! Popuri is in her room packing for her trip to the city tomorrow!" I grinned at Jack. Popuri was going with Gray. They could both get alone time for at least a season or so.  
  
We walked into Popuri's room. It was actually quite stunning, as I wasn't used to seeing pink everywhere you looked. Pink bed, pink walls, pink bureaus, pink carpets, pink tables and even pink ceilings! Yeesh, talk about an obsession gone overboard. A perfect example right here.  
  
"Ann! I'm so happy that you came! I was wondering if you could lend me your knitting set. Gray is going to teach me to knit while we're in the city." Popuri couldn't knit and she wasn't the greatest cook around. I could knit, for one thing, but didn't want to give my materials to her.  
  
"If we find any other sets that we can buy in the city, we'll mail this one back to you, is that okay?" I hesitated for a moment. I loved knitting. But she was becoming a great friend of mine. So I probably should, just to show that I care.  
  
"Yes, Poppy, you can borrow it. You lose it and the dragon version of Ann will be out to kill you!" I exclaimed. Jack began laughing and Popuri stuck her tongue out at me.  
  
Her luggage was endless. She already had three cases packed full and she was still scanning for more to take with her to the city. "Nah, I guess that's all I'll take," she finally announced, and wheeled everything in the shop.  
  
"I'll come by tomorrow morning to pick the set up, Ann," Popuri told me as Jack and I exited the shop. I mouthed "Okay" to her and we were on out way.  
  
It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon. It looked like the forecast was going to be wrong; the skies were so clear that you could probably see your reflection in it. So blue...  
  
I pulled Jack into my cousin's shop and asked him if he had anything that was worthwhile to sell to me. "Why?" he asked me before he would answer. I looked at Jack, and looked at Rick, saying, "My friend's birthday is tomorrow!" Rick got up and said, "Well then, give him -or her- this beautiful red vase I just purchased from the blacksmith next door. He says that it's broken, but he's just strange."  
  
I said 'bye to my cousin to realize that it was already 4 p.m.! The stores were going to be closing within the next hour so I decided to let Jack know that we should be going on our way home.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow, in the Autumn," we said to each other.  
  
On my way home, I smiled.  
  
Flirtatious. That's how I describe Jack now.

**

* * *

**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
  
And the romance heats up a notch! Ann's feelings are beginning to grow stronger for the country lad! Read and review! We'll see what happens next! :)


	12. The Cow Festival

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 11: The Cow Festival**

* * *

The 4th day of Autumn, the Cow Festival. This was the day that cows from all over the world were sent to the Green Ranch to compete in a competition to see which of the milk-givers gave the best milk! This year, our own cow, Missy, and six other cows were competing for the red ribbon.   
  
Jack hadn't gotten a cow yet, so he was unable to compete this year. He said that he would just sit on the sidelines and cheer our cow on. How very sweet of someone who cursed under his breath about not getting a cow before this festival date.  
  
I woke up early on the day of the Cow Festival. The leaves were gold, red, orange and brown outside. That meant that Winter would soon come. I despised the season. But for now, I wouldn't think about it and just concentrate on the festival that was going to begin at 10:00 a.m. It would last all day. That sucked, as my family had to cook the food and crater it before everyone else arrived.  
  
Jack arrived at 9 a.m. I was in my room, and yes, you guess it, doing my hair.  
  
"Why are you always doing your hair when I come to the ranch?" he asked me between giggles.  
  
I rolled my eyes and firmly answered, "Just lucky I guess. Us women must keep our hair beautiful! Not that mine already is, but you know what I mean. Yes, I know you do." Jack chuckled.  
  
"Where are the other cows?" was his next question. I dropped the hairclip that I was using when he asked that, and I replied, "They're in the barn with the other animals. They'll be released to wander about the ranch in about, oh, say thirty minutes or so?" Jack nodded and said, "I see, Ann."  
  
Karen came by with a bottle of beer that she was obviously drinking.  
  
"Tops!" she called out. I jumped out of my window after doing my hair, and ran over to her and quickly shouted, "HELLO!" Karen was stunned and asked, "What the fu- err, heck was that for?!" I shrugged. "Nothing really, just to make you scream."  
  
Jack laughed as Karen chased me around the entire ranch. Yep, I was in one of those crazy moods where you want to do anything and you don't really care if you get yelled at, or in this case, chased around.  
  
Finally, Karen came to a halt and said, "Fine, you win. But I swear to god if you ever do that again I'll break this beer bottle on your head!" Karen flung the bottle out of her hand and it slipped out of her other hand while it was flying through the air. It crashed down into the grass, luckily, not breaking. Karen's face turned red as she scurried over to get it.  
  
"See what you made me did!" she exclaimed after picking it up. Jack shook his head as Karen stood right in front of me, furious.  
  
"It's not like I was attempting murder. Take a chill pill, Karen," I replied.  
  
At 9:30, I snuck away from Karen and Jack, who were making conversation and opened the barn door. The sheep and horses were locked in their stables, while the cows came out, curious to the environment around them. Well, not Missy, but the others sure were. My father came out and fed them a bit of fodder before the competition began.  
  
"To keep them from getting hungry. They'll be giving milk until sundown. I don't know when that will be, probably around 5 p.m. or so. But we still do this every year, just in case. You never know when a cow passes out from starving or dehydration, which did happen once about three or four years ago, when we were in the middle of an Indian Summer. Always watch your cows, you don't want the worst to come out of it." My father repeated that phrase to Gray and I every year.  
  
Sasha arrived with Kai a few minutes before 10:00. Right after that, a mob of people arrived. Most of them were just tourists. But I was familiar with some. Popuri, of course, and Maria whom I wasn't expecting to come. Lillia came, Popuri's mother. Rick came, too. I was surprised not to see Elli, though. She must've been sick or something.  
  
My father announced the opening of the festival and said, "Let the milking begin!"  
  
This was the first year that we were using milking machines, as all of the previous years always took us forever, and we'd have to continue the festival well after dark. Simple and easy this year. Of course, my father taking almost seven years to realize such a thing...whew. Brain check, aisle four.  
  
Missy had her milk tested first. Five bottles were passed around. One for Jack, one for Kai, one for Lillia, and two were handed out to tourists, obviously people we didn't know. Jack gave Missy a 9.5 and everyone else, strangely, gave her a 9. Oh well. Great grade, that's for sure.  
  
The next cow was Lassie from the Flower Bud Meadow Ranch. I think that's the ranch that sells chocolate milk and ice cream on the other side of the mountains. Wait! There's nothing on the other side, though...oh well. Jack drank his milk in the blink of an eye and held up the 8 sign. I silently clapped. I didn't want anyone to hear me cheering my own ranch on when I was supposed to be cheering all the ranches on. Lillia gave it a 6.5. Kai gave it a 9.5 and both of the tourists settled on an 8, like Jack did.  
  
Cindy, from the Caldwell Ranch was next. She came from the city, and had been giving milk for six years. She was almost at her "retirement" age, and this was her final competition, so her owners were hoping that she would win this one. Every judge gave her refreshing milk a 9. That meant that Missy was still winning, but only by .5.  
  
Milk was good, and as it stood, Missy had the best milk. Relish, the next cow was from some place that I hadn't even heard of before! All I knew was that she gave excellent milk. It was going to be hard for Missy to beat her, from what I heard. The judges drank their milk...and asked for more.  
  
They asked for Relish's milk until they couldn't drink anymore. They all rated her a 10. That meant Missy wasn't going to win.  
  
There were three cows left now.  
  
JingleBells, a marble cow, gave milk that few people liked. Her milk was the milk that you couldn't say "it's okay" or "pretty good, but not the best". It's either a yes or no. That's what her milk was like. Kind of like tapioca.  
  
The judges this time around were Gray, Sasha and three tourists. They said that JingleBells milk was either a "yes" or "no" kind of like in taste. They all rated her a 1. HA! So that meant that they didn't like her milk. Neat, I'd have to try it out sometime.  
  
Torrie had the best milk in the world! Every judge gave her a 10! I wasn't surprised. She was now tied with Relish. These cows had awesome milk! I even tasted a bit of it. It sure was good. I could have it every dawn and dusk and never ever ever EVER get bored of its taste. Meh. One cow was left and I was hoping that it had great milk, too!  
  
Piesch was the last cow. The judges quickly drank their milk and licked their lips. Sasha held up a 6.5. Gray gave the milk a 4. He didn't appear to like it! Two of the tourists gave the milk a 3 and the other one gave it an 8.5. Her milk didn't seem to be the greatest.  
  
"Well, that's it for this year's competition! The results are in!" my father announced to the majority of the town. "The results are in!" I stood in one of the far corners of the farm with Jack and Karen while my father was handed the envelope.  
  
"Torrie will probably win, she got the most 10s the fastest, not Relish," Karen told me. I nodded. That was probably what the case was going to be.  
  
My father ripped open the envelope. "Third place goes to Missy, of the Green Ranch!" Every applauded and cheered as a blue ribbon was placed around Missy's chubby neck. "Second place goes to Relish of the Mirrdon Ranch!" The second cow was handed a green ribbon and taken into a different part of the ranch. "First place...Torrie!"  
  
Everybody cheered. The red ribbon as placed around the lost cow's neck.  
  
"Thank you for coming out to the Cow Festival!" the closing comments came in.  
  
That evening while I was getting ready for bed, I whispered under my breath, "Milk is good. Good for you. If you don't drink it, then you're missing out on what I consider to be the adventure of a lifetime."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
  
EEK! This was shorter than what I thought it was gonna be... xx Oh, well. I swear that the next one will be loooongER. I mean it, this time. 


	13. Basket Full of Vegetables

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 12: Basket Full of Vegetables**

* * *

I'm not the greatest fan of the Harvest Festival, but I do enjoy all the food, chatting and dancing that occurs at it, so I go every year. The Harvest Festival was always held on Autumn 12th, rain or shine. I really hated it when it rained on the festival date, because it was such a lively festival. Again, not one of my favourites, but overall, a fairly good festival indeed.  
  
Gray had already left for the city with Popuri, so they weren't going to be at the festival. That meant that Gray was instantly unable to become the Harvest king of the year that would soon come. That meant Elli, as the town baker, only had to bake five cakes this year: Harris's, Jeff's, Kai's, Cliff's and Jack's. Less tense for the males, less baking for Elli.  
  
"I hate these hideously cold autumns!" my father exclaimed the morning of the festival, at breakfast.  
  
It had turned out to be quite the cold autumn, despite the fact that most of our autumns were pretty warm.  
  
"You're telling me," I replied, scratching my nose. "I just hope that it's warm enough to head on over to the Square." My father picked up the newspaper from the city. Flower Bud didn't have a paper, but the city sure did! The newspaper was entitled _The Silver Arms_. I think it had something to do with the name of the city, being Silver Sapphire, or something like that.  
  
My father nodded after what I figured was reading a story somewhere in the middle of the paper. "Popuri made the picture of this story!" At the time, I was sipping tea, and quickly gasped, spitting it all up. It landed on the floor, which I then quickly cleaned it up.  
  
The story was entitled _Young Couple Wins Mansion_.  
  
Dad had missed the title before and screamed, "WHHATT?!!" when he saw it. I was alarmed. Popuri was in the picture and she was standing in front of a mansion. She had her usual perky expression on, and was holding a ticket in front of her that looked like it was a normal 8'11" piece paper.  
  
While Dad started writing a letter that he was going to send to Popuri, I changed into my usual outfit and set off for the festival.  
  
I quickly checked the mailbox and looked inside of it to find two pieces of mail. One was from the carpenters in the mountains sending out their monthly advertisement. Yeesh. The other one was actually a postcard. A picture of Popuri was on it and Gray was barely, but was, recognizable. I knew that it was going to have something to do with that mansion, so I read what Popuri had written.  
  
**_I entered a competition to win a mansion. Why? Dunno, I was bored. We, the people, got little silver slips of paper with nineteen, yes, nineteen numbers on each. Gray didn't enter; he figured it was all stupidity and there was no way I'd ever win. Well, anyway, over two thousand, and I mean TWO THOUSAND people showed up for the big draw. The winning numbers were: 11 2 9 34 2 7 4 44 42 9 6 67 54 1 65 22 9 7 35. And those numbers were on my ticket! I couldn't believe I'd just won!!! Gray was stunned, and he spoke the most words he'd spoken in years. I was basically speechless! The mansion contract is under my name! And from the current looks of it, Gray and I aren't going to be coming back to Flower Bud for a looong time! We might even just stay here and start a family! I like it here, anyway. So, Ann and Hall, I hope that you're both doing well and I'll write to you soon! Bye bye!!!  
  
-Popuri & Gray (Letter written by Popuri)  
_**  
I, too, was stunned. I quickly ran inside to show Dad the postcard that we'd received. He was mortified and said that he was going to respond to them. "Do you want to write the letter, Ann?" he asked me.  
  
I shook my head. "Dad, I've got to go now!"  
  
The autumn was a beautiful time of year, and at least now the temperature had went up. It felt like it was hovering around the 15 degrees point. I stopped by Jack's farm, but he wasn't home. He had probably already gotten to the Square for the festival. That meant I'd have to get there now, or I'd miss the cake drawing! I didn't want to miss that.  
  
Arriving there felt good. I looked over at the big stage that had been set out in the middle of the square. The youngest men of the village were standing on it. I knew that it'd be the youngsters turn this year. Every year the crowning of the king goes back and forth between the younger men or the older men. That explained why the potion dude became king the previous year. Thank the lord that I didn't have to dance with him.  
  
Suddenly, Elli appeared on the stage and shouted out to everyone, "Would the Goddess of this past Spring Flower Festival descend onto the stage to pass out the cakes!" There was silence for a moment and Elli then said, "That was me, so, here I am!" Everyone laughed, including me.  
  
The men got onto the stage and a basket full of cake was brought out. "I baked these this morning, so, yes they're fresh. Each man will grab one cake and devour it. Whoever gets the mystical coin in his cake will become the king of next year. The king will play important roles in the Sowing Festival, Flower Festival, Spirit Festival and New Year's Eve!  
  
"Also, next year, the king will also participate in the Thanksgiving Festival by going around Flower Bud Village and giving each women one strawberry cake with vanilla ice cream and a sweet, red strawberry on top of it. Okay, men, select your cakes!"  
  
Harris, then Kai, then Cliff, then Jeff and lastly Jack, pulled out five cakes that resembled exactly what Elli said. They all devoured the cake at once. Jeff finished his first, but there was no coin inside of it.  
  
"Jeff's cake doesn't have a coin in it!" Elli announced.  
  
Good. That meant my two guys had 25 percent chances now of becoming the next Harvest king. I was hoping that one of them would get it. Kai was munching on his, when he suddenly threw it all up.  
  
Across the Square, Karen made a gasp. "What the hell was in that thing?" Elli licked her lips and answered, "Um, yeah, about that. I decided to put a bit of nuts in it to knock some sense into the new king." After that answer, Karen began chasing Elli, and ran her right out of the Square! The Mayor had to take over where she had left off.  
  
"Kai doesn't receive a coin! Three men remain!"  
  
A 33.3 percent chance remained between Cliff and Jack. One of them had better gotten the coin, or else I'd be horrendously mad. I began praying. That's how anxious I was for one of them to get the coin.  
  
All of a sudden, Jack coughed something gold up. Everyone looked up to the stage, and a coin was lying at his feet, surrounded by hundreds of crumbs and icing all around it.  
  
The Mayor smiled. "Well, folks, we have ourselves a new king! Jack the farmer will play a role in the five festivals next year and will now throw out baskets full of vegetables at everyone! Enjoy the harvest folks! This sort of thing doesn't happen everyday!"  
  
Jack was given ten baskets of vegetables. All of a sudden, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, cabbage and turnips from the Spring and Summer harvests were flying around everywhere. Even a few strawberries from Lillia's greenhouse flew out of the baskets. They landed among the crowd, and everyone dove at them to gobble them down!  
  
"Okay, quickly grab a partner, it's time to dance!" the Mayor called out.  
  
Before I had anytime to move, Jack quickly grabbed my arm. "Eeee!" I shouted out. Jack had a funny expression on his face and said, "Well, here we are again. Almost two seasons later, but let's dance!" I smiled and decided to give him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Then the music started. It wasn't the music from the Flower Festival, but it sounded an awful lot like it. It was called "Forever More". It was the couples slow dance! I was shocked. I didn't want to be seen dancing with Jack! I mean, technically, I did, but I didn't want Cliff to see me dancing with Jack!  
  
I saw Karen and Kai (who had recovered from his allergy reaction) dancing and looking like they were ready to make out. Maria was standing on the sidelines all by herself, when Harris approached her. Yeesh. I can't believe that he'd do such a thing! Asking a tramp out!  
  
Cliff did see me dancing with Jack, however. He didn't seem to mind, though. I winked at him and he mouthed, "S'no problem, Ann." I grinned at him and turned back to Jack.  
  
I was relieved when they started casual dancing. I went over to Karen and we started twirling each other around. Elli was dancing with Jeff, still and Maria was just dancing on her own. I actually liked seeing Maria dancing. She was better than me, that's for sure. But she wasn't better than Karen.  
  
Not one girl in the village was better than Karen.  
  
The festival finally came to an end. I looked back on the day and decided that I would give it a thumbs-up. Not only because Jack became king, danced with me and threw a tomato which landed on my head (ouch!), but because I got to spend time with my friends. All of them. Yes, all of them.  
  
Especially my new friend: Maria.


	14. Under the Moonlight

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 13: Under The Moonlight**

* * *

Jack and I began spending more and more time together ever since he spit up the gold coin at the Harvest Festival. We talked about what we were going to do in the Winter, which was fast approaching.  
  
"I want to go skiing in the mountains!" I exclaimed. "I haven't done that in a long time!"  
  
Jack nodded and said, "I want to try something intense. But nothing too intense."  
  
We agreed that during the Winter, the two of us would have all sorts of fun and do many activities that weren't too intense. He said that skating was too intense for him. I gave him a weird look and said, "Skating?" Strangely enough, he wasn't joking with me. He truly did not want to go skating. Oh, well. There was still a bunch of other things that we would be doing.  
  
The date was Autumn (or Fall, whatever) 21st. It was the day after the sports meet Egg Festival where the villagers go hunting for eggs. The person who brought back the most eggs with the same colours as the Mayor displays, wins, or something like that. I'd never gone; I found it too awkward.  
  
I was over at Karen's vineyard, harvesting the grapes with her. She was unbelievably astatic, though, because this was the first year in many that the vineyard was giving good grapes, and she was doing back flips, calling for her parents every ten minutes.  
  
"Look at this one!" she cried, holding up a big, plump, purple grape. "It looks great! I wonder why the vineyard's doing so well this year!"  
  
"Yeah," I said, sounding bored.  
  
Kai exited the shack that contained the wine cellar beneath it. "Karen! You're never going to believe this!" he hollered, running towards us. Karen's head shifted towards her friend, a smile on her face. Kai stopped in front of Karen and said, "We can make Heaven's Gate again! The grapes...ahh, we can make it again!"  
  
Sasha came running out of the house with Karen's father, and they all gathered together hugging. I was a little scared. I'd never seen Karen so cheerful in her life. Actually, maybe I had. That would have been the day we finished high school. Did I mention that already? Hmm...  
  
Karen payed me 1000G for my troubles, and said that there was going to be a huge party at the bar tonight! She invited me, too.  
  
"Um, Karen, I've never even stepped into that bar before. You've been in there most of your life. Heck, you were in there when your father worked there as a busboy." Karen giggled. "If you don't come, that's okay."  
  
I stopped by Jack's farm on the way home. He wasn't in the fields or in his barn or chicken coop, so I decided to knock on the door. A few seconds later, Jack exited the house. "Good afternoon, Ann," he greeted me, "I was just rolling out a new carpet that I ordered from Rick's. Care to see it?"  
  
I stepped into Jack's house. It hadn't really changed since the day that he and I had breakfast, but there was a carpet rolled out on the ground. He also had a staircase descending to the roof. He also had a baby bed in front of his bed.  
  
"Why do you have a baby bed? You're not married. Are you adopting or something?" I asked him.  
  
Jack smiled at me and answered, "No, no, no, Ann. I just have that in case I have a future with one of you five eligible women in this town." I blushed. He did have a crush on me. It just looked like he didn't know how to express it well enough. I decided to play with him a bit, then, telling him he had a future with Elli.  
  
"Elli?!" he gasped. "Are you out of your mind? Elli and Jeff are heavily in love! I can't be with Maria. I do like her, though, but not that kind of like! She's infatuated with Harris! You know that! Popuri is with Gray and Karen is with Kai!"  
  
That left him with me. I grinned.  
  
"One of us? What do you mean?" I questioned him. "If you meant one of the five of us, why did you turn all the others down? I'm the only one left, you know." Jack smiled. "Oh...you've got Cliff."  
  
Either he really meant that, or he didn't want me anymore. I was a little stunned too about him mentioning Cliff's name. I hadn't been with him for a while now, so I was a little shocked about him saying that. Did Jack really love me? Did he want to spend the rest of his life with me?  
  
Jack started humming the song that was played at the Flower Festival all of a sudden.  
  
"Why are you humming that all of a sudden?" I asked him with a worried look on my face. Jack shrugged. "It makes me think about something that happened to me a long time ago in a town far away. God, the thought keeps coming back whenever I look at you, Ann." I had my mouth open by now. Where was this conversation going?  
  
"Um, Jack, do you want to go to the Square? I want to talk. I haven't really anything else to do right now." Jack scratched his chin for a moment and answered, "Yeah. I suppose. There's really nothing else to do around here anymore. Well, until tomorrow, of course."  
  
Jack and I headed off towards the Square. It was a cool, crisp autumn day and I head to snuggle up to him a bit.  
  
Upon arriving at the Square, the two of us saw Maria making posters and flyers for the Star Night Festival, which was held on Winter 24th. It was the day that the stars in the sky would be the brightest of the year. The sky was always clear on that night, too, which seemed very suspicious, but no one had to time to ponder and juggle that thought.  
  
"Maria, need any help?" I asked my new friend as Jack and I walked towards her. We must have frightened her, because she made a quick jump to her feet and replied, "Oh, it's only you guys. Of course I could."  
  
While making a bunch of posters (my drawing was, like, chicken scratch), the three of us talked about our social lives and such.  
  
"Are you dating Harris, yet, Maria?" Jack asked her. That was the last question that I was expecting Jack to ask my ex-enemy. But he did. I was curious, too. My face just didn't show it.  
  
The bookworm looked up at the two of us. "No, not exactly, but he has a major crush on me." I scratched my ear and picked up a green pencil crayon. "How do you know that he has a major crush on you?" I asked. Maria blushed for a second and then said, "Well, err, while we were dancing last week at the HF, he tried to kiss me several times, but I'd duck out of the way, and peck him back first. I didn't want him kissing me, as my father would be watching and he would be teasing me. So, I delivered instead."  
  
"He'll propose soon," I assured her. Maria laughed. "I'm sure he will. After that he'll just move into our house, get a load of all of our money, give me six children, divorce me, and leave me on..." Maria stopped. Tears formed in her eyes and were released like geysers flying towards the ground.  
  
Jack quickly cuddled the brawling librarian, who had obviously pushed her thoughts over a cliff. Maria pushed Jack away from her and screamed, "I'm just a useless tramp! You've said it Ann! I can't believe we became friends just from you and I dancing at the Harvest Festival! ARRGH! Harris is just using me! Why am I living my life like this? WHAT AM I GOOD FOR? SORTING BOOKS?!!"  
  
Maria let loose the most anger I'd ever seen from her and she stormed off from the Square, leaving us alone with all of the posters and crayons and such.  
  
"Wow," Jack said.  
  
I was heartbroken. I never knew that all of the crude and mean things that I'd said to Maria over the years had finally caught up with her. It was a strange sight, and I have to admit that it was a tad bit entertaining, but I felt like a fool. I started to cry, too.  
  
Jack put his arms around me and I just cried and cried and cried. I felt awful. "Do you regret what you've said to Maria?" he asked me after a few minutes. Through a few sobs I replied, "I never knew that Maria felt that way. I wish she'd have told me that was the way that she felt all of those years ago. I teased her from the day I met my first friend to the day that you were crowned Harvest king. I feel like such a fool."  
  
Telling the story was not difficult. I explained everything that I'd done to Maria to Jack. He didn't seem impressed, but that was what I'd predicted. He did not like me calling the other girls tramps or hoes or any other nasty words that would make them feel down in the dumps or just plain mad at me or even themselves.  
  
After I told the story, I looked at the table with poster paper and flyer paper all over it. I figured the best way that I could currently repay Maria was to finish her work for her. I grabbed a piece of poster paper and began drawing away.  
  
The two of us drew and drew and wrote and wrote until far past dusk.  
  
At around 11 o' clock that evening, Jack checked his watch and informed me of the time. I didn't care about it, though, because we still had three pieces of paper left, and we weren't leaving without completing them, too.  
  
I neatly hand-wrote the words: "Winter 24th. Come to the church and hear some spectacular hymns and organ music to celebrate the night that the stars shine the brightest. The Star Night Festival held at the church from 7:00 p.m. until midnight. Attend for much activity." On the second last piece of paper, I wrote: "Winter 24th. The reflections of the stars on the water is enchanting. If you enjoy the brisk evening breeze in front of a large body of water, then attend the Star Night Festival at the beach."  
  
We had finally run out of messages, invitations and other forms of writing to put down on the posters and flyers, so we didn't know what we were going to do with the last piece of paper.  
  
"Why don't we draw a picture of Maria and Harris?" I asked Jack.  
  
The farmer shook his head.  
  
"Let's draw a picture of Maria, Karen, Harris you and me."  
  
I decided that Jack's idea was a bit better, so I decided to go along with his drawing. Plus, he would be drawing it, so I didn't have to worry about chicken-scratch drawing on a picture that was going to (or so we hoped) look real pretty.  
  
The picture turned out to look half-decent. I was in the top right corner, swinging a lasso. Karen was in the top left corner drinking a glass of wine. Harris was in the bottom right corner with an envelope in his hand. Jack was in the bottom left corner juggling a corn, a strawberry and a cabbage. Maria was in the mail, holding a book and a pen.  
  
I grabbed Jack's arm and looked at his watch.  
  
"Midnight," I said. "I hope that my father doesn't think that I got drunk or high for the first time or anything." I giggled at my stupid remark and picked up the picture. I would deliver it to Maria the next day. She would appreciate that we took time to draw such a thing for her, and even finish off the flyers and posters!  
  
All of a sudden, Maria appeared out of nowhere. "MARIA!" I bellowed. Maria looked stunned as I ran over to her, holding the picture. "Jack and I drew this for you, we hope you like it!" Maria accepted our little gift and looked at it. "Pretty. Thank you, guys. Thanks for this and thanks for finishing the posters and flyers."  
  
I looked next to me and saw Jack holding all of our artwork.  
  
"We were a little surprised to see you run off like that all of a sudden, Maria, so we decided to do the work for you. We are truly sorry if we were responsible for your sudden temper earlier this afternoon."  
  
Maria got out a pocket mirror and looked at her face for a moment. "Yeah, I know. I kinda just flipped out for no reason. You guys are not held responsible for anything, but" -Maria turned and faced me- "I would appreciate it even more if you and I, Ann, were not friends and just people who don't know each other."  
  
A frown came to my face. "Maria, the past is done with. Just worry about what will come in the future." Maria looked at me and an angry expression was drawn on her face all of a sudden. "Ann...don't talk to me anymore. I don't want to be your friend; amiga, whatever you call it. I'm too angry at you. One dance couldn't fix a broken friendship between two friends. One dance would certainly not make two enemies good friends all of a sudden. I'm sorry, Ann."  
  
Jack did not look too surprised for some reason.  
  
I held my head. I felt awful for continuously verbally harassing Maria over the years. School was bad but us as adults wasn't working out either. I looked up at Maria and said, "Fair is fair. All's fair in love and war. Fine. Goodbye to you too."  
  
Walking out of the Square, I felt a grin come to my face. For some reason, I was content about the idea. Leaving Maria behind to sulk felt good. I hope that she'd choke one day on her own ego, which I was pleading would soon die.  
  
After arriving at Jack's farm, I let his arm go, and walked off towards the Green Ranch. I didn't hear Jack trying to stop me. He probably understood my feelings or knew that I'd be too much of a selfish girl to talk to at the moment. I just continued to walk.  
  
I slammed the door to my house once I had entered it, and a postcard from Popuri. She said that her and Gray were getting married in the Spring, and they wanted us to go to the city for the wedding. I cried while reading the postcard. Gray wasn't coming back, that meant. What if I married Jack? I'd most likely move into the farm with him. That meant my father would be lonely running the ranch on his own. I started to re-consider my feelings towards Jack.  
  
Thirty tissues were thrown into my trash can before I went to bed. I'd been drying my eyes for quite the while that night.  
  
I couldn't stand the life that I was living anymore.  
  
Gray and Popuri were gone, Maria expressed her true hate toward me...  
  
I was falling in love with two of my best friends.


	15. Autumn Out

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 14: Autumn Out**

* * *

Everyday was feeling chillier and chillier. Forecasts started calling for flurries and the mornings became my least favourite time of the day. I couldn't handle the cold. Actually, I could handle it, I just didn't want to go out in it.  
  
The day after the Autumn Horse Races (Which I did win! Yay!), Jack came by and asked me if I wanted to go on our monthly picnic the following day. I thought about it a lot. What if it was too cold?  
  
"I suppose," I answered him. "But only if the weather co-operates. I don't want to be stranded on the beach like an ice monument." Jack nodded. "Alright, I understand. I'll meet you at your ranch tomorrow at...oh...say, 12 noon?"  
  
After Jack and I agreed on the time, I waved him goodbye.  
  
I was going to town. I had promised Lillia that I was going to help her with all of her autumn harvesting. Lillia owned a small patch of land up in the mountains that she had to tend to every sunny day from Spring to the end of Fall. Since Popuri wasn't around to help her, she asked me if I could. I said yes, since there wasn't anything else that I could really do.  
  
I entered the shop a few minutes later to be greeted by Lillia's warm smile.  
  
"Hello, Ann, how are things going for you?" she asked me. I waved to her and walked up to the counter saying, "Everything's fine. Shall we go up into the mountains now?" Lillia nodded and put on her winter jacket. "Okay. Let's go!"  
  
Lillia and I walked up into the mountains. We passed many mushrooms along the way, which she scooped up. We also passed by many medicinal herbs, which she sold to the Potion Shop Owner whenever he came by her shop.  
  
"Where is your private garden, Lillia?" I asked the florist. The two of us walked a little bit past the pond where vegetables were thrown into to make wishes. Lillia pulled a bush aside and said, "Right here, Ann."  
  
WOW! Talk about a lot of space for vegetables to grow! The land was at least, at an estimate, 16 acres. I hadn't seen such a big plot of land for just growing vegetables until now. It was most impressive. There had to be over one thousand eggplants growing out there. I smiled, looked at Popuri's mother and said, "Let's get harvesting!"  
  
Lillia and I both knew that there was no way that we were going to finish the harvest by the end of the day. We'd probably only get half of the land cleared, as long as we didn't stop working.  
  
"Will it be possible for you to help me tomorrow?" Lillia asked me as we were harvesting. I looked over at the pink-headed mother and shook my head. "I've already made plans for tomorrow. I would come if I could, but sorry, I just can't." Lillia began chuckling for a moment. "It's okay, you don't have to go into rapid speed 'maybe next times'!" she exclaimed as she picked a ripe eggplant off of its stem.  
  
During the harvest, I heard a rustling sound in the bushes every minute or so, and it seemed to have been calling my name. For the whole day I heard that sound, which eventually was leading into a migraine. There was someone around the fields that wanted to talk to me, I assumed, but I just couldn't make out where the sound was coming from.  
  
"ANN!" a girl's voice bellowed all of a sudden.  
  
My head spun around, and I saw Karen standing next to me.  
  
"Karen! Why did you keep calling me from the bushes? You could have just came right in! It's not like Lillia would mind, or anything." Karen nodded and said, "The reason I came to find you was because I want you to come to the bar on the evening of Winter 1st."  
  
I began laughing. "Why couldn't you wait to tell me this until later?" Karen shrugged. "I just wanted to tell you once I heard the date of the Blow Away the Bills evening." My jaw dropped. "You want me to go to THAT?!" I gasped. Karen nodded. "I'm the only girl in the bar on that day. Wait, I'm almost always the only girl, but on that night I am always the only girl. This year, I could use your company. Your father wouldn't mind, would he? You're twenty-one-years-old now!"  
  
It did sound like an interesting evening, with only men around the bar, so I decided that I'd visit Karen on Winter 1st. But only for a small portion of the time, as I didn't like to remain in bars too long, as it would always begin to get a tad bit scary.  
  
"Anyways," continued Karen, "are you going on that monthly thing with Jack tomorrow?"  
  
I shrugged. "Weather permitting. I don't want to go out picnicking in a white blanket."  
  
Lillia came over to the two of us a moment later and exclaimed, "Why, Karen! Hello! I didn't know that Ann needed some extra help!" She giggled at her comment. I cursed her under my breath. "No, actually, Lillia, Karen just came by to chat with me and talk about that big event happening on Sunday night."  
  
The florist sighed. "I'm actually glad that Basil's never around in the winter to go to the bar and blow all of his money before I can get around to Festive shopping. Of course, it doesn't matter anymore. He's not here and Popuri isn't coming home. I'm gonna be having a fun Star Night Festival." Lillia sighed again and then said, "You can go, now, Ann, I'll finish up on my own.  
  
"Thanks!" I cried.  
  
Karen and I split up once we got to the vineyard. I waved her off and she blew me a kiss. After she was out of my sight, I entered the ranch and saw my father feeding the horses outside the barn.  
  
"Hey, Dad! Need any help?" I called out to him.  
  
"It's okay," he replied. "You can go in. I'll come and make you dinner in a little while."  
  
I checked my watch. Holy smokes! It was almost 6 o' clock in the evening! I was a little surprised, actually, that I'd been working all of that time. I hadn't even taken a break of any sort for lunch. I was really hungry too. Reality figures.  
  
I woke up the next morning with a good feeling inside of me. I had a dream that the weather was going to be absolutely fabulous! I quickly peered out my window to see shades of red, brown and orange. Falling leaves. The sun was poking through a few clouds, though, so it looked like it was going to be a pretty nice day.  
  
"The weather, father?" I asked Dad once I entered the shop. My father turned on the television and meteorologist May came on.  
  
"...Expect showers at around dusk through dawn. Current temperature is 6 degrees Celsius, expect a high of 12 degrees for today. Your news is next with Ivan Letterman."  
  
My father shut off the television and said, "Well, I guess the weather's going to be fair enough for your picnic. Do you know what Jack's going to be making?" I nodded. "Yeah, he told me this time. Coleslaw, again, along with fried chicken soup and a bowl of hash browns and brownies."  
  
Dad looked like he was about to choke.  
  
"Cut the sarcasm, dear, and tell me what you're really having."  
  
I repeated the same menu.  
  
"ANN!" my father screamed. I shrugged. "Fine, don't believe me." Dad shook his head. "Kids these days."  
  
I hated it when he made that remark.  
  
My day with Jack went pretty well, actually. Better than what I had expected. First, we quickly ate all of our food (and yes, the food WAS what I had told my father!), then we decided to get a little mischievous. We dove off the dock several times, even though we were completely aware of the fact that the water was freezing cold. After that, I put on a skirt and we did some beach dancing for a while. Then, Karen came by with Kai and said that they were going to join us. They brought a record player that played a song called, 'Dance Under The Moon'. I was curious when I heard that song play. It was the song from the Flower Festival. Hell, yeah, was it ever.  
  
Then it was time for us to head on home. It was getting late. I waved goodbye to my three friends and jogged back to the ranch. Dad was waiting for me in the fields. He was riding on Cliffguard.  
  
"Hey! How was your day? ... And why are you wet?" were his first words. I laughed. "Not a big deal, Dad. Rub it off. I know that Winter is tomorrow, and that it'll probably snow in a few days, but please don't get all up in arms, okay?" Dad looked at me as if I were crazy. "Are you okay?" he questioned me with a worried expression plastered on his face.  
  
I nodded. "I'm great! If you asked anyone, they'd say I'm in a great mood, too!" I put on a huge grin, and Dad told me to go inside. I complied and danced into our house.  
  
I poured myself a large cup of tea, and drank it within a few sips. I was going to be hyper the following night anyways, and Dad didn't mind the fact that I was going, so I figured that I'd start now. As long as I didn't drink too much.  
  
"Tea is not an alcohol," he told me.  
  
I shrugged. "Big deal!" I held up my empty glass and said, "Cheers!"

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Sorry that it took me so long to update! I've been quite busy lately. I'll post the next chapter ASAP! :)


	16. My First Experience at Becoming Drunk

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 15: My First Experience At Becoming Drunk**

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I woke up the next morning to find snow falling from the sky. There wasn't any snow on the ground yet, but it was falling. I let out a sigh. Winter was my least favourite season and the only reason I did like Winter was because of the Star Night Festival, which was fast approaching.  
  
There was a note on the table in the shop that I noticed once entering the room. "'Ann, I'll be back later. I bought a ticket to the city to buy gardening tools for next year. I'll be back around three,'" I read aloud to myself. Shrugging, I said, "Well then! I guess I'll have to make my own breakfast...why couldn't Dad have left some pancakes or something on the table?"  
  
My cooking always left people in tears, so I was afraid of eating my own food. Instead, I decided to pocket 1000G, and head off to the bakery. It would be better eating a great cook's food than a below average cook's food.  
  
I opened the door to the bakery to be greeted by a big white smile. It was Elli, of course.  
  
"Ann! How nice to see you!" she exclaimed. I smiled back at the baker and said, "Same here. How have you been lately?"  
  
"Well," Elli began. "Jeff almost broke his arm the other night. Grandma was shocked when this happened, and had to scream at the top of her lungs for me to come running. You know, with her legs out and everything that she cannot run. It is a shame, but we get through the days like she did have her strong, healthy legs back."  
  
Elli talked for a few more minutes and then said, "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, Ann, care to be seated?" I quickly nodded and sat down at the table closest to the exit. If I didn't have enough money on me (which I'm sure I did) when it came time to pay, I'd just make a run. Elli would, obviously, scream at me later.  
  
Flipping through a notepad, Elli asked me, "Ready to order yet?" The menu was only one sheet of paper, so making up my mind was never difficult at all. "Yes," I replied. "The breakfast special, please with a pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream." Elli snatched my menu and said, "Wonderful! Tea for a drink, I presume?" I nodded and she was off.  
  
A few minutes later, as I was scanning the walls of the bakery, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Cliff behind me. "Hey, I haven't seen you around in the longest of times," he told me. I moved over, so he could sit down next to me. "Ditto," I said, laughing.  
  
We made typical chit-chat for ten minutes before Elli came dancing over to me with my big breakfast. "Here you go, Ann! Oh, I say! Who invited this boy in?" she questioned me. A chill ran down my spine for a moment, as I was thinking that Elli had just insulted Cliff.  
  
"Why, this is Karen's cousin, Cliff," came my reply.  
  
Elli looked at him suspiciously for a moment and then said, "Oh, come now! Karen lives at the vineyard with her parents and her boyfriend, Mr. Kai. There is no way in hell that this boy is related to them!" I was stunned. Cliff was stunned. How could sweet and gentle Elli say such a thing about someone?  
  
"How can he not be related to them, Elli?!" I shot back at her.  
  
After snickering for a minute, she answered, "Well, he's a vagabond."  
  
Cliff was hurt after Elli said that and quickly left. I looked at her and said, "I never knew that you were such a bitch, Elli." The baker laughed an evil laugh, and then said, "Why don't you run after what appears to be your little hobo boyfriend?"  
  
That had did it.  
  
I picked up the food that Elli had me...and shoved half of it down my throat. I then drank all of my tea and said, "Waste not, want not. I didn't want to waste it all, since this is obviously a good meal. But I don't want the rest of it. See? Waste not, want not. So, here!" I screamed, tossing the plater of food at Elli, who screamed.  
  
The rest of the food landed on Elli and I ran out of the bakery, leaving the money on the table.  
  
I ran to the vineyard, where Cliff was. He and Karen were harvesting the remaining grapes of the Autumn. "I can't be that the grapes did so well this year! That Jack certainly is one fabulous guy!" Karen said every now and then, before she even noticed me.  
  
"Hello!" I called out to Karen, who saw me and said, "The gate's open! Just give it a little jerk and come on in! I've got news for you!" I complied.  
  
Karen and I ran into her house and then up into her room, which was looking neater than ever. A baby cradle had been placed in the side of the room, where the plants used to be. "Eh? Why did you get rid of the plants?" I curiously asked my best friend.  
  
Sasha came up before Karen could answer and said, "Karen! Kai and I -which rhyme by the way- have decided that your big day is going to be in the Spring! Either the first or second Sunday of the season. We need you two to be wed as fast as possible. Well, before the baby comes, anyways, or else you're both going to be thrown out of Flower Bud. Never attempt this again! I mean, well, next time it won't matter, but you know what I mean! Oh, and here are the blankets."  
  
I started giggling and jumping up and down. "You and Kai are getting married?" Karen started giggling too, and replied, "A-doobley! Err, yes, we are! You know how the town law is you're not supposed to have children until after marriage?" I nodded my head. "Well, Kai and I have to wed now because we're expecting a child!"  
  
I shrieked. Literally.  
  
"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!" Karen threw her arms int the air and shouted, "Yes, I am! Yahoo! The baby is expected in the Summer!" I had never been so excited in my whole life. Besides getting out of high school...which I already mentioned. Or was that Karen?  
  
"Anyways," Karen said. "I'm going to the bar now. I'll talk to you tonight."  
  
Before I went to the bar that night, I stopped by Jack's farm to see if he was home. I checked the barn, chicken coop and knocked on his door several times. It didn't appear that he was home. I'd probably see him at the bar, since all of the men were going to be there. Or, the majority, anyways.  
  
I opened the door to the bar to hear techno dance music playing. I never liked techno, and techno dance hurt my ears anymore. Karen was serving wine and beer to several of the tables. I saw Cliff sitting at the farthest table in the top-right corner of the bar. It looked like there was a lot on his mind.  
  
"Cliff...?" I said as I approached him.  
  
My friend looked at me and said, "Ann...I can't sleep in a cave during the Winter. I'm going to have to leave Flower Bud."  
  
Wow. That was fast. That's all he had to say and tears started developing in my eyes. "Are you sure? Couldn't you stay with me?" Cliff shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I don't want to. We don't have a future together."  
  
That's when my jaw dropped. "We WHAT?!"  
  
Cliff didn't look like he was joking around with me. "Ann! I know that we're sort of a small couple, if you want to say that, but...I just don't love you. Do you love me?"  
  
Before I got my chance to reply, Karen came over to me and gave me a beer. "Drink it, Ann, I'm sure you'll be fine!" And then, she grabbed my left arm and swung me over to the middle of the bar, where most of the guys were dancing. "Drink it right here."  
  
I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I wasn't used to being in the spotlight, and this was no doubt the spotlight. I opened the beer bottle and looked inside. Yes, I was curious. I hadn't ever drank any alcohol in my life before, and this was going to be an interesting start. I began drinking the beer in sips and then I poured the rest of it down my throat.  
  
Looking around the bar, I still saw the same figures that I saw while coming in. I looked at Karen and said, "So, aren't I supposed to feel drunk now, or something like that?" Karen laughed. "That was the first beer you ever had and you're not drunk. I certainly am surprised, Ann. Here, take a wine. You'll get dizzy to this for sure."  
  
I drank the wine in a minute flat. Karen gasped.  
  
After that, I looked around and started to feel very uncomfortable. "Ka-Kar-en?" I said, looking at Harris the mailman, who tried to get away from me. Karen quickly turned me towards her and then said, "Whoa! Whoa! Ann, I'm right here! Maybe you should sit down!"  
  
As if cursed, I said, "Uh-uh! I'm dancin' now!"  
  
Throwing Karen off of me, I jumped onto the dance floor and kicked my shoes off. "EEEK! SCREAM, PEOPLLLEEE!!!" I hollered, everyone in the bar taking notice. I began doing insane, funky moves that I never knew I could do. A second later, Harris, Jeff and Karen joined in with me. Since they couldn't follow my random moves, they just did a dance that Karen had taught them a few years back.  
  
Suddenly, a song called All Alone came on. Whenever I heard this song, I always thought of my mother. "Ann! Get a grip of yourself! ANN!" Karen kept yelling. I didn't know what I was doing now, all I knew was that I was looking down at everyone in the bar from somewhere high up.  
  
Kai and Karen were both trying to get me down, but it wasn't working. "I am never letting her get drunk, again!" Karen insisted once I jumped off of what I was standing on: the counters. I ran over to one of the far tables and smacked right into Cliff.  
  
"Ann," he said. I shook my head and got up from the ground. I rubbed it where I had bumped my arm. "Oww, like, yeah?" He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye, asking, "Do you damn love me?" I was still a little crazy, so I answered, "Why, of course! I thought you'd never ask! Why?" Cliff shook his head. "You're still drunk. I'll ask you later."  
  
For the rest of the night, I was jumping around the bar. Karen was very surprised. Even she didn't go that nuts over alcohol.  
  
Finally, the bar had to close. It was midnight. Karen grabbed me and dragged me outside, where I started to feel normal again. "Wow. What happened?" I asked her, as if everything I had experienced was just lost.  
  
Cliff came up behind me and said, "Ann. I have to tell you that I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for the city." I was alarmed. "Excuse me?! But you can't! You know that I love you!" Karen smacked her forehead with her hand. "Are you still drunk, Ann? Cliff found his family! He's living with us!" All of a sudden, I froze. Cliff had tricked me into admitting my true feelings for him.  
  
"Excuse me? ... Again?! WHAT? Why did you have to ask for my feelings? You knew that I was falling in love with you, you ass!"  
  
Karen hit her forehead with both hands this time. "Cliff, I think we'll have to walk Ann home."  
  
Was I still drunk? Oh, lord. Something wasn't feeling right...Did Cliff ask for my feelings because he wanted to have a future with me...Wait! What had happened in the bar? Or was I just dreaming?  
  
What was going on here? ... Oh, I feel a hangover coming on.


	17. Footprints in the Snow

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 16: Footprints In The Snow**

**

* * *

**

Karen had convinced me never to go to a bar again, and I agreed with her. I had obtained a hangover so large, that I was actually considering to kill myself. Fortunately, Karen was at my house that night, and took care of me. She said that it happened to people many times, but the worst really was the first time that you drank alcohol.  
  
On Winter 5th, a few days later, I went over to Jack's house and saw him outside in his fields. Snow still hadn't inhabited the ground yet, so he was planning for the Spring, as there was no vegetable that would live through the Winter in Flower Bud Village.  
  
"Hi, Jack," I greeted him.   
  
Jack took his cap off, and said, "Hey, Ann. How are you?"  
  
Since we hadn't seen each other since our picnic, we socialized about what we had been doing for the past few days. Jack mentioned that he had finally added on a bathroom to his house and that he was saving up for a greenhouse. I told him about getting drunk and he laughed and laughed and laughed.  
  
"I don't drink," Jack told me. "So I wasn't really all that interested in coming. I mean, I will have a bottle of beer from time to time, or if I'm just craving some -which I almost never do- but otherwise, I'm not really into alcohol and such."  
  
I nodded. Jack was always so open about himself, and would never lie about anything. If he did lie, then that was a pretty rare site. People who are always true to themselves were hard to run across in Flower Bud. There was Jeff and the only other one was Jack.  
  
Putting a hand on my shoulder, Jack asked me, "So how are Popuri and Gray doing in the big city and all that? What was that place called again? Silver Mountain?" I giggled. "Silver Sapphire, and yes, they're doing well."  
  
I told Jack exactly what Popuri had written in their last letter. It said that they planned on getting married in the city, and that they probably weren't going to come back to Flower Bud. Popuri was currently sick, but her doctor says that she may be pregnant. Jack found that amazing! They were also considering selling the mansion, and moving into the suburbs, after they get married. If Popuri did have children, that's what was going to happen. If not, then most likely they were staying in Silver Sapphire.  
  
"Why the sudden urge to move?" asked Jack. I shrugged. "We didn't get a letter back yet, so we'll find out in a few days. Anyways..." I was starting to get bored, and was wondering if we could go anywhere together.  
  
All of a sudden, I jumped to my feet.  
  
"Let's go to the mountains and make an igloo!" I shouted. Jack looked at me with a lost expression on his face, and then I quickly repeated, "Let's go to the mountains and make an igloo! I mean, why not?" Jack laughed and said, "Okay, Ann. I don't see why not. I'll pack some sleeping bags." When Jack said that, I became stumped. "Errm, whatever for?" I asked. The farmer answered, "I've never slept in an igloo before." He winked at me.  
  
It did sound exciting. I, too, had never slept in an igloo either, as it'd probably hit below zero degrees and that would be freaking freezing. But we would go anyways, despite the temperature.  
  
Flower Bud Village certainly didn't have much snow around it, but Moon Mountain always had snow. Once we arrived at the foot of the mountain, there was snow left, right and centre. "Oh! Cool!" I cried. There was more snow than usual this year, which put me on cloud nine. We would be building one big igloo...hopefully.  
  
We began building the igloo next to the river, which was still running.  
  
"Not cold enough to freeze it over?" Jack joked and I chuckled.  
  
There was enough snow to easily make two or three igloos. Of course we wouldn't be doing that, but that just proves that there was a lot of snow on the ground. A lot of it.  
  
When we had built a quarter of the igloo, I told Jack that I had to go somewhere. "Where?" he asked me before I could take off. "Don't worry. Only up to the vineyard for a couple of minutes. I'll be back so rapidly that you won't even see me disappear from this spot." I took off and Jack cried, "I saw you disappear! You lose!"  
  
As I was walking, I shook my head. Silly farmer. I picked up the speed and I knocked on Karen's door after reaching the vineyard. Sasha opened the door and said, "Ah, good afternoon Ann. If you're looking for Karen, I'm afraid she's not in right now. She went to the church to help the children out with their reading. Isn't that sweet of her?"  
  
Nodding, I said, "Thanks, Sasha. See you later."  
  
I arrived back at the igloo a minute later and Jack said, "So, what did you need from her?" I shrugged. "Nothing really. Actually, I was going to ask her if she wanted to come and join us. It's too bad she's at the church helping the children with their reading." Jack let out a large "Awww", followed by a, "Isn't that sweet? She had a good reason not to be home."  
  
The igloo took us a long time to built. A few times we even considered stopping the construction on our "masterpiece" but decided in the long run to continue what we had come to the mountains for.  
  
At 5:30, Karen came to the mountains. "You guys are making an igloo?" she yelped.  
  
I laughed for a minute before replying, "Sure are. How were the children?" "Angels," Karen began. "None of them threw any crayons and they always raised their hands when wanting to ask a question. That's wonderful for kids that are about seven or eight-years-old. The only problem was that Stu, one of the kids, always left the pews every three seconds. He was annoying, but otherwise, all was good."  
  
Karen got a pile of snow and started helping us with the igloo. Not even a minute into her helping us out, she quickly questioned, "Why do you have sleeping bags? Are you planning on having cold-" Jack threw his earmuffs at her mouth before she could say whatever she was going to say next.  
  
"That's just wrong, Karen," Jack said, and I laughed again. I understood what he meant. Yes, Karen was being totally nosy...and disgusting.  
  
Punching some of the snow on the igloo, I asked Karen, "When are you and Kai to wed?" Of course, Karen started acting like she was in the spotlight and did a little dance. "You see, Kai and I are so much in love that we decided to have the wedding on Winter 28. That's one day before my birthday."  
  
I smiled a fake smile and said, "I know, Karen. I've been your best friend since kindergarten."  
  
Karen stuck her tongue out at me and charged at me full speed, knocking me down. "You silly old goose!" I cried out loud. Jack was a little surprised, but continued working on the igloo, whistling his way through our small wrestle.  
  
Finally, I got up and punched Karen on the shoulder. "Ouch! Anyways. Oh, Ann, do you have the time?" I quickly checked my wristwatch and said, "Yes. 5:55. I assume that you've got to get to work?" Karen nodded. "Thanks. Catch you later."  
  
At around 9:00 p.m., Jack and I finished the igloo. It was like a classical painting inside of a...classical painting. Well, it was real pretty and I just had to take a picture of it. I did too, with Jack in front of it.  
  
"Are we going to really sleep here tonight, Jack?" I asked my friend.  
  
"Yes," he replied.  
  
"I hope we'll be okay."  
  
"We'll be fine. Have faith."  
  
"I do." That was a lie, and Jack caught me.  
  
"Ann, everything will be fine. You don't need to worry, okay?" I nodded a small nod and then looked at the sky. The stars were shining. I loved the stars when they were so bright. And tonight, they were the brightest that I'd seen in the longest of times. They would be the brightest on the Star Night Festival, though.  
  
Before we turned in, I asked Jack, "Do you believe in love at first sight?" Jack pondered the thought, for which seemed like a long time, and answered, "I don't." I looked at him and asked, "Why?"  
  
Jack took his cap off and shook his head. "Sorry, my hair was getting sweaty." He threw the cap into the snow and then answered, "Well, Ann, love is something you don't just obtain once you meet someone. It takes a bit of time before you truly realize that you've fallen in love with someone."  
  
I continued to stare back at Jack and then I said, "Have you ever fallen in love with anybody in your life?"  
  
The farmer looked at me and grinned. "Yes, there was Hannah, someone I knew a long time ago, when I lived back in the city. I loved her to death, but we got separated when she had to move away. It was sad. There's also another girl..."  
  
Curiously, I asked, "Who?"  
  
Jack looked back at me, with his mouth slightly opened, and answered, "Well...I don't remember her too well. I was at least five-years-old at the time. I came to my grandfather's farm to visit, and I met a girl who was my age. I promised her that I would come back one day, and I did. I kept my promise. But she isn't here anymore. And if she is, then I don't know where she is. I fell in love with her."  
  
My heart skipped a beat.  
  
I felt like falling over. Oh, god. It was like my heart was enlarging.  
  
Stronger feelings approached. It was happening again. Every time my heart skipped a beat or felt like it was going to stop working, my feelings for Jack grew. And it was happening again. I was beginning to see him as someone that I wanted to spend my life with. For various reasons, and one of them is...  
  
...That story. And then it hit me.  
  
"You do believe in love at first sight," I said under my breath. Jack smirked. "Ann, I don't. But-" I quickly cut him off by putting my fingers in front of his mouth. "You do, Jack. I know for a fact that you do."  
  
I took my fingers away from his mouth and he said, "Kiss me."  
  
Smiling, I moved closer to him until our lips finally met. Then it hit me more than ever. I knew what was going on. All of those memories, all of those times I spent with a little boy when I was little, and that music box. That music box which that boy was supposed to return to me when we re-met.  
  
I was falling in love. Last time I thought I was, but this time I knew I was. I knew that I was falling in love with Jack. I wasn't in love, love, love with him yet though; I only considered him a strong crush right now.  
  
Our lips parted, but we kissed a few more times before we decided that it was time to go to sleep. Shiver.


	18. The Pika Bunny

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 17: The Pika Bunny**

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It was always interesting to fall asleep and then to wake up with snow all over your head. When I opened my eyes the next morning, that's exactly what I experienced. Moaning, I crawled out of the igloo and brushed all of the snow out of my hair.  
  
Once I finished that annoying task, Jack climbed out of the igloo and said, "We are never doing this again. Unless we're offered a million bells. Otherwise, this little, um, "adventure" is officially off of my list."  
  
Jack could be strange at certain times. I turned around and looked at him. "What list?" He also always knew the right time to crack a joke. "My list of things to do before I die. What else?" Slapping my forehead, I mumbled, "Give me the power to advance through the darkest hour."  
  
The mountain was packed with snow. More than it was last night, anyway. I wonder if that meant that there would be snow on the ground in the village now. I was hoping that there was, only because if we didn't get any snow now, that would probably indicate that we weren't going to get any snow for the Star Night Festival. That festival was nothing without snow.  
  
"Do you want to leave the igloo here?" Jack asked me. Not caring too much anymore about the pile of snow, I said, "Sure. Unless you want to jump on it. Or, being the nice people that we are, we can just leave it here. Someone else may come along and say, 'Wow! Wow! Look what I found, honey! Come here! NOW!'"  
  
Jack chuckled and we decided to leave the igloo where it was standing.  
  
The two of us decided to walk through the mountains for the remainder of the morning. Since there weren't many places that we could go to in the mountains, we stayed at the foot and walkd through a few acres of land that nothing but a few trees and snow rested upon.  
  
All of a sudden, I saw a bright white thing jump from one tree to the one that was next to it. I gave a small scream, and Jack looked at me saying, "What? What? What? What did you see, Ann?" I turned to looked at him, and then looked back at the trees, pointing. Jack just shook his head, mumbling under his breath, "It was probably just a squirrel or something."  
  
"Let's go, Ann. Don't need to worry!" he exclaimed. I nodded and we continued to walk through the mountains.  
  
At another point in our walk, I spotted another white thing dashing through the trees. This time, I decided to screech, just to show Jack that I thought something really was running around.  
  
"Jack! I saw something in the trees! I know I did! I just know that I did! Come on, we have to go investigate!" Suspiciously, I grabbed Jack's arm and pulled him at least ten centimetres before he fell into the snow and I took off into the trees.  
  
As I was chasing after whatever I was chasing, I fell over something that didn't feel like it belonged in the mountains. I got up and turned around to see a wine cellar. "What?" I asked myself, and decided to open it.  
  
Down below, I saw Cliff sleeping on the floor! Where the hell was I?  
  
"Cliff! Cliff! CLIFF!" I screamed to the sleeping ex-vagabond. My friend quickly awoke from his slumber and looked up at me. "Ann! Hey, what are you doing in the backyard of the vineyard?" I looked around and saw that I was in the backyard of the vineyard. Then I saw the figure that I had been chasing.  
  
It was the legendary Pika Bunny.  
  
I had seen the bunny once before.  
  
Looking down at Cliff, I said, "That's the Pika Bunny! Do you know what it means, Cliff?" My friend climbed out of the cellar and looked over at where the rabbit was standing. "Excuse me? There's nothing there." My eyes widened. Cliff couldn't see the Pika Bunny?  
  
"What do you mean you can't see it? It's right there!" I pointed straight at the bunny, which was now itching itself with its hind leg. "Wait! If you can't see it...that means we're not destined to be together forever!" Cliff was now looking at me like I was some sort of a crazy woman. He scratched his head then said, "Ann, are you feeling alright?"  
  
A second later, Jack came up behind me and said, "Ann! What the heck do you think you're - what the heck is that?!" Jack began walking backwards until he hit a tree and then said, "Is that what you were chasing, Ann? A rabbit?"  
  
Jack saw the rabbit. Cliff couldn't.  
  
"Jack! Do you realize what that rabbit represents?" I asked my friend. Jack shook his head. "Something that ranch girls run after?" Grinning, I punched Jack on the shoulder. "Actually, it represents destiny. If a man and woman ever see the rabbit while they are together, it means that they are destined to be together forever. If a couple doesn't see it, it means that they're not to be together."  
  
Cliff's jaw was hanging now, and Karen came out from the front of her house. "Cliff! It's time to get up! Kai made your - what on?!" I waved to my friend, who was obviously confused by Jack and my presence.   
  
"Did you guys come over for breakfast? Kai made sausages and fried eggs. I popped the toast, heehee," Karen told everyone. Jack and I decided to stay for breakfast, which meant less food for Karen. Her fault for letting us in her house so early in the morning.  
  
I never grew bored of Karen's house everytime I stepped into it. It always smelled of coffee and wine. The wine part was obvious, but I never really understood the coffee part, as neither of her parents, nor her ever drank coffee. I was pretty sure that Kai didn't drink it either.  
  
Karen's room was always so empty, but it had many little knicks and knacks in it. Underneath her bed was a little hole that let Karen sneak out of the house. It led to the roof, and once she got out, she just climbed down the side of her house. I also liked the crack in the ceiling, even though it didn't really lead to any place in the house.  
  
"Come and sit down. Make yourselves comfortable," Karen told us. She placed two extra plates on the table, one for Jack and one for me. "Thanks a bundle," I said to Karen. She smiled at me and went to get some napkins, which she set down on the table.  
  
After Kai finished cooking, he set a big platter of sausages down in front of us, and then another platter of eggs. The toast was set down by Karen, and there was a lot of toast. Twenty-five in counting. Yes, I counted. That's how hungry I was.  
  
Eating with Karen's family was always so stange. Sasha, Kai, Karen and her father constantly talked. They just talked and talked and talked. Even when they were eating, they talked through their chewing and their swallowing. They gargled through their drinking and spit some of it up occasionally. That was one quality of Karen that I hated: She was a spitter while speaking.  
  
Finally, breakfast ended.  
  
I said goodbye to everyone while racing out the door. I wanted to get home as quickly as I could and tell my father about the previous evening and such. I also had to tell him about the Pika Bunny.  
  
"You WWHAAT??!" Dad cried, dropping his coffee mug, which shattered all over the floor. Coffee went flying around the room, some landing on me. I glared at him. "Jack and I saw the Pika Bunny. The rabbit that you and mama saw before you guys got married."  
  
I helped clean up the catastrophe that my father spilled, and during our duty, he asked me, "You don't suppose that that Pika Bunny really does seal two peoples' fates, do you, Ann?"  
  
I wanted to slap my father on the face when he said that. "Excuse me? You don't want to see me and Jack, or Jack and I, whatever the hell the correct grammar is, be together forever? You think we're going to get married and settle down and all that? _Are you assessing that you don't like Jack?_"  
  
My father nodded.  
  
I gasped.  
  
That made my mind do a quick jump. Was Jack the right guy for me? Why didn't my father approve the farmer? We were ranchers! There's not a big difference!  
  
"Fine, but if he proposes to me, you know what, Dad? It's my future and I can have it with whomever I want to have it with. I will accept. Sure, I love Cliff too, but he's not the right guy. He's a great guy and all, but I prefer Jack. Not because he's a farmer, not because I'm a rancher, and certainly not because I spend more time with him."  
  
"Then what's your reason, Ann?"  
  
I took a deep breath and said, "Because he has the **music box**!"


	19. Star Night Festival

**On Horseback  
  
Chapter 18: Star Night Festival**

**

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**

I didn't want to hint Jack that I knew he had the music box that I had given him when I was five-years-old. I wanted him to figure that out on his own. At times I wondered if he even remembered meeting me when we were both so young. Maybe he didn't even have the music box anymore. That would be sad. Having me wait for sixteen years and he comes back with nothing. But, perhaps that was the case. If it were, then I would just have to live with it.  
  
Jack and I did do many of the things that we wanted to do during the Winter. We went skating, and I fell more times than I could even count. Skiing was pretty fun, but my absolute favourite activity we did was snowboarding. I was a fair snowboarder, but Jack was the worst of the worst! Every time that he fell, he would get up, and then fall right back down again! It was extremely hilarious!  
  
The nights continued to grow colder and colder until the 22nd of Winter. On that day, the forecast called for above seasonal temperatures and warm winds from the southeast.  
  
On the morning of the 23rd, my father and I were discussing if we were going to have the Star Night Festival feast at Karen's house, Lillia's house or at our house.  
  
"Well, last year we had the feast at the florist's. I think we should have it...why not right here at our own house?" I asked Dad. Whenever I suggest that a special gathering should be held at our house, Dad shakes his head and then makes up some lame excuse, just so that his house isn't left in shambles later on.  
  
As I figured, he replied, "But the women may not like the smell of the ranch! You know, the hay and the fodder and such?"  
  
I stared back at my father with a puzzled look on my face. I was going to have to see if Karen was up to having the feast at her place. I didn't want to ask Lillia again, since we'd had the feast at her place the previous Star Night Festival.  
  
Pulling my gloves over my hands, I closed the door to my house and headed off to the vineyard.  
  
It was snowing. Tiny snowflakes drifted all around me as I walked through the covered dirt path that lead to Karen's place. All of the trees were filled with snow and one little shake would probably send an avalanche right at you. There were clouds in the sky and that's what always made me wonder how the Star Night Festival day could always be clear. Every single year, regardless of the previous or following days forecast, the day of the festival was always clear. It was a mystery that I always pondered about.  
  
I reached the vineyard a minute later. Just before I was about to knock on the door, it flew open and I saw Cliff standing in front of me. "Come on in!" he exclaimed and shoved me in the door.  
  
I saw a festive tree standing near the fireplace. It was small, but it was beautifully decorated. The cutest and most interesting ornaments on the tree in my opinion were the miniature-sized dolls of each family member in Karen's family. Karen was wearing a black dress with glittering black slippers on her feet. Sasha was wearing a black nightgown and had a little black bow in her hair. The three men were wearing black tuxedos and with formal shoes on. Cliff looked the cutest of each ornament.  
  
All of a sudden, Karen screamed, "NO! Don't look at my miniature figurine!" Karen raced across the room and pushed me out of the way, even though I'd already seen the bite-sized resemblance of my friend.   
  
"Did you see it?" Karen asked, enraged. I laughed and said, "Yes, Karen. And for your information, it was" -I put my hands on my hips- "absolutely gorgeous!" I finished off in my most girly voice that I could make.  
  
Karen and I exchanged high-fives (despite the fact that she was still a little angry that I saw her ornament), and then I walked over to Sasha, who was sitting on the couch, knitting a sweater.  
  
"Could I ask you a question, Sasha?"  
  
"You just did, Ann."  
  
I grinned at my best friend's mother. She always knew how to make me smile.  
  
"Since our feast gathering was held at Lillia's place last year, my father and I suggested that we should hold it at one of our places tonight. And as usual, knowing my father, he made up a lame excuse that the women would gag because of the ranch smells. So he made me come over here to ask you if we could hold the feast here this year."  
  
Laughing, Sasha answered, "It's no trouble at all, dear. That's absolutely no skin off of my back. Just be sure to bring the macaroni salad and the coleslaw since you do that every year, okay?"  
  
I quickly nodded. "Yes, Sasha."  
  
After my conversation with Sasha, I walked over to the door where Cliff was still standing and looked him in the eye, saying, "Do you want to go to church with me after dinner tomorrow night? It's become tradition. I've done it every year since I was eleven."  
  
Cliff gave me a large smile and said, "Do you want to watch the stars after that?"  
  
I wasn't sure of how to answer his question. I didn't think that it would be healthy to see Cliff anymore. I did see the Pika Bunny with Jack! That rabbit represents whom you're supposed to end up living the rest of your life with! But...my Dad could be right. Even though he and my mother saw it together, maybe it isn't precise. Even if you see it with someone who you love, maybe you're not supposed to be together forever.  
  
"Of course I'd like to watch the stars with you!" I finally answered. I figured it was best to accept his offer. I still did have a crush on him, so I felt that I'd made the correct choice.  
  
Before leaving, Cliff dug into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. I knew that there was going to be something pretty inside of it. I just wasn't sure of what it was going to be. Smiling, I took the box from Cliff's soft hands.  
  
Winking, he asked me to open it. Filled with curiosity, I complied.  
  
"EEEEKK!!" I gasped.  
  
Karen came running to the door, quickly followed by Sasha, both crying, "What? What? Is the sky falling?" They both looked at me and saw that I had one hand on my chest and the other one holding the velvet box. The two women looked at Cliff and said, "What happened?"  
  
Cliff just looked back at me. I decided that I would show my friend and my friend's mother the amazing gift that I had just received from somebody who truly did want to spend the rest of his life with me.  
  
Inside the velvet box laid a blue feather.  
  
"A blue feather...the item in Flower Bud Village that a man uses to propose to a woman. Cliff just gave that to you, Ann?" Karen asked me. I slowly nodded and then quietly said, "He did."  
  
Sasha looked at me and said, "Remember Ann, it's up to you if you want to marry my nephew. It's all your choice. The fate of the two of you now rests in your hands. Make the decision that you want. Not what he wants. But what you want."  
  
My ex-vagabond friend gave me a small peck on the lips before I left, and as I was walking away from the vineyard, I spotted a lonely Jack out in the fields of his farm. I hadn't seen him in one week, so I decided that now would be a perfect time to visit. To announce to him that Cliff wanted me to be his wife. Forever.  
  
"Jack! Jack! Jack!" I kept hollering as I sprinted towards the farm. The farmer took notice of me the moment that I stopped in front of him. From the expression on his face, he thought that I had just been hit in the head with a large mallet.  
  
I quickly told him that Cliff just proposed to me. He looked a little hurt, but questioned me, "Did you say yes or no?" I shook my head and replied, "I haven't decided yet. And I don't want to decide yet. I need more time...to see if he is the one that I truly want. I say this because...Jack, are you in love with anybody right now?"  
  
Jack nodded. "I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I just don't know if I'll be able to. Life can be tricky, you know. I'll find out soon if I'll be able to. I'll find out soon."  
  
He was talking about me. I think. It was time for me to leave. Before I did, though, I kissed his cheek and ran back towards my house.  
  
"HAPPY STAR NIGHT FESTIVAL!" Karen greeted me the next evening.  
  
I gave her one of my I'm-going-to-slap-you-if-you-ever-do-that-again kind of smiles, and then entered the house, followed by my Dad, which was even more festive oriented than it had been the previous day.  
  
The table was set and there was a huge turkey in the middle of it. I adored turkey, and I had to have it every so often, or I'd go bonkers. The walls were filled with tinsel with candles that were attached to it. It was a gorgeous site. Under the tree were three presents. I had one, my father had one and Lillia had one. They were all wrapped in blue bows and had fancy confetti sprinkled on top of them.  
  
I sat down in my seat at the table and looked around. Cliff was sitting on my left. Sasha was sitting on his left and Karen on her left. Hall was sitting on her left, followed by Lillia and then Kai, who was sitting on my right.  
  
Karen was always the one who said grace on Star Night Festival, so she arose from her seat, and said, "I shall begin."  
  
"Tonight is the night, when all get together, to have a feast, whatever the weather. Thank you, lord, for us to be able, to put food on this table. Amen."  
  
We began eating, and as usual, Sasha, Kai, Cliff and Karen were yapping their mouths, just like they always did while eating. At times I really wanted to stick a fork up one of their noses, and hey, it would be for a good cause, too.  
  
Lillia was always quiet during the previous years feasts, but this year, she had a lot to talk about.  
  
"Popuri wrote me a letter saying that she and Gray are going to be staying in Silver Sapphire for quite some time still. They're selling their house and going to be moving to the suburban part of the city. They are starting a family, regardless of whatever they wrote in previous letters. I hope they come back and visit someday. It wouldn't be fair for me to remain all on my own back at home until the day that I slip away."  
  
Sasha and Kai began laughing, and I giggled, even though it wasn't that much of a joke. Lillia was a great person. There were many other words that I could use to describe her, but none as good as a great person.  
  
We all finished eating at quarter to nine, which meant I had to be at church in fifteen minutes. Maria and Elli were probably going to be there too, playing the invitation hymn on the organ and the harmonica, followed by a few carols that everyone sang along to.  
  
"I'll do the dishes," offered Sasha. "My husband never joins us for the feast, so I should be making him clean these dishes, but, oh well. You guys can go on and run off to church now" -Sasha pointed to Karen and Kai- "while you two will be at the beach, correct?"  
  
All of us nodded, rushing out the door, saying farewell to each other and exchanging constant waves as we ran out towards our own directions.  
  
When I entered the church, the pews were filled with people. Lillia and I sat down together, while Cliff sat down on the opposing pew to our side of the church.  
  
Suddenly, Maria and Elli appeared at the front of the church (which on Star Night Festival we called the stage), and they both cried out loud, "Let's sing our hearts out until our hearts can't sing anymore!"  
  
Maria was playing the organ while Elli was playing the harmonica. The roles remained the same year after year. The invitation hymn started and I just listened to the music that the church offered. It was absolutely gorgeous.  
  
After the hymn was sung, Maria and Elli began playing _Jingle Bells_, and everybody began singing along to the song.  
  
"Dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way! Bells on bob tails ring, making spirits bright, what fun it is to laugh and sing a sleighing song tonight! Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh, hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh!"  
  
After we finished _Jingle Bells_, the two girls moved on to _Joy to the World_, one of my personal faves!  
  
"Joy to the world! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him soon! And heaven and nature sing! And heaven and nature sing! And heaven and heaven and nature sing!"  
  
After the carols had been sung, the people of Flower Bud flocked out into the evening air to converse about the goodies that they would be receiving that night and the stars that were shining brightly above their heads. I was one of them.  
  
I stood with Cliff just outside the bar, which was next to the church staring up at the sky, looking at the bright stars that lingered. They were pretty. Very pretty. Cliff must have thought so too, because he would occasionally say, "Beauty." I, personally, thought that that was pretty romantic.  
  
"Do you have an answer to my proposal question?" Cliff asked me, shifting my head to look into his eyes.  
  
I still wasn't sure what to say. I was in love with Cliff. I really was. But I was also in love with Jack. I was completely ripped in half. What was I to do? Would I just have to accept or reject Cliff now? What if Jack never did propose to me? What if the Pika Bunny was just a myth and all? But...how could Cliff have not seen it then?  
  
I wasn't ready to answer, so I broke his question with a kiss instead.  
  
Cliff seemed to be surprised, but we continued to kiss under the Winter stars. I touched his cheek and he pulled me closer to him. Was love really just a curse that was cast upon people? Was there even a meaning to it?  
  
But of course there was. I just hadn't learned it yet.  
  
Cliff and I continued to kiss passionately under the stars as the night went on. I was going to have a good sleep tonight. I just knew that I was going to.

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**DISCLAIMER:** I own none of the songs that I have used in this chapter. Thanks for understanding.   
  
**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Sorry that it took so long to update, I'll be sure to have the next one up a lot faster! 


	20. Winter Out

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 19: ****Winter Out**

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I had a lot of running around to do in the next few days. After the Spirit Festival, which I gladly skipped on the 27th, it was time to prepare for Karen's birthday. Karen was the second youngest girl in the village. Her birthday was the 29th of Winter. Well, actually, she is the youngest now because of Popuri's leave of Flower Bud. Her birthday is on Spring 22, but during the following year, not the same as the rest of us ladies were born in.  
  
Karen always received champagne and liquor on her birthday. How unsurprising. Everyone knew that she was infatuated with alcohol, so that's what everyone always bought her for her birthday.  
  
But I wasn't going to buy her any. I wanted to buy her something that she would never expect to receive. Something unusual. Something...different.  
  
I was sitting in my bedroom the morning of Karen's birthday. I still hadn't bought her anything. This was not good. I couldn't just show up at her birthday party empty handed. What kind of a best friend would do that? Not me!  
  
"Dad, what could I buy Karen for tonight?" I asked during breakfast. My father looked at me curiously for a second and then said, "You haven't gotten her anything yet? Mercy! Her birthday party starts at five this evening. How could you have not gotten her anything yet?"  
  
I shrugged. "Been busy, I guess."  
  
Dad looked at me in the eye while he was thinking. Not long after he started, he blurted out, "Buy her a lawn mower!"  
  
I burst out laughing. "A lawn mower?! Dad, are you crazy? There is no way in hell that I'm going to be buying my best friend a lawn mower! Not just will she think that I've turned loony, she'll also think that she had trouble with the grass around where the grapes are grown!"  
  
Staring at me, my father said, "Ann, they do have grass troubles. Has Karen never said that to you before?"  
  
"Oh," I replied, a little bit dumbfounded. I hadn't known that there were grass troubles around the vineyard. Karen had never muttered a single word about overgrown grass before, or ever needing a lawn mower. But even if I did buy her one, my life's fortunes would be gone! The lawn mowers in Flower Bud cost over 40 000G! It was insane!  
  
I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10:00 a.m. I then looked back at my Dad. "Could you spare me, let's say, 35 000G? I mean, it was your suggestion to buy a lawn mower. So, I might as well."  
  
My father stared at me for a minute and then mumbled, "You shall pay, young Ann. You shall pay." After getting a piece of paper from the counter (which I assumed was a check), Dad wrote down his signature on it, and then put down thirty-nine thousand bells where, again, I assumed that the money part was written.  
  
He handed me the check and said, "Go to the craftsman. I know he'll have one in stock. He has since the beginning of Summer." I smiled at my father and snatched the check out of his hand.  
  
I didn't stop by Jack's farm to chat. I wanted to get the lawn mower out of the way first. I ran past the bakery and came to a halt right in front of Saibara's Blacksmith Shop. I prayed that the lawn mower was still there. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door.  
  
Inside sat Saibara, the owner. He was working on some kind of vase, from what I saw. It was moldy red, but he was painting it blue. It looked like the sky from where I was standing. It was real pretty.  
  
"Saibara, do you still have that lawn mower that you got in stock a little while back?" I asked him. The blacksmith turned his head towards me and grumbled.  
  
Saibara walked into the back room, and came back out with a big, shiny brown lawn mower. It was beautiful and the paint hadn't scraped from it yet. That was good, as Karen hated anything that was rusty.  
  
"Y'know that this is ganna cost ya a fochune!" he exclaimed, putting the lawn mower down in front of me. I nodded, handing him the check. Saibara looked at it for a minute and then said, "39 000...par on. I congratulate you on purchasin' an expanseeve beauty."  
  
What surprised me even more was that I was able to get the mower wrapped up. It did cost me an extra 500G, but at least it saved me the trouble of having to do it on my own.  
  
I raced home and placed the wrapped-mower in front of my bedroom door. I wanted to make sure that I'd put it somewhere where I wasn't going to forget about it.   
  
It was only noon, so I decided that it would be okay to stop at Jack's place before I headed on over to the party. I walked up to the farmer's door and gave it a big, hard knock.  
  
Jack answered the door. "Hello!" he exclaimed when he saw the warm welcoming smile that was on my face. "How have you been? Don't just stand out there in the snow! Come in, come in!"  
  
The house was real beautiful. Jack told me that he had all of the house extensions that there were, except for the greenhouse, which was hideously expensive, but even cost less than a lawn mower! That just goes to show that Flower Bud truly was a strange village! Well, in certain ways, that is.  
  
"I don't want to take much of your time, so we'll make our chat quick. What did you buy Karen for her birthday?" Jack asked me, closing the door.  
  
Grinning, I replied, "I bought her a lawn mower. You don't know how badly that Karen and her family need one. The vineyard has problems with handling grass, so I asked my father for 39 000G, and he gave me the money! So, I went out and got her one!"  
  
Jack was speechless.  
  
"Well, I know I've only been here for two minutes, but I really gotta get going to the party now! I'll see you later, Jack. Oh, and I know that what I bought her is shocking to you. Perhaps that's why you're not moving your lips, eh, love?"  
  
I kissed Jack on the cheek, and headed out for Karen's house.  
  
Just like on the starry evening, when Karen answered the door, the first thing that she screamed in my face was, "COME ON IN! IT'S TIME TO PARTY!"  
  
I gave Karen another one of my don't-ever-do-that-again-or-else-I'm-going-to-kill-you-looks and then promptly entered her house, which had reverted back to its original look, which was before the Star Night Festival. There was a banner that was hanging from the ceiling, though, that read: **HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN**.  
  
Cliff was waiting for me in front of the fireplace. I gave the handle of the lawn mower to Sasha, and walked over to him, on my way flashing another one of my bright smiles, saying, "I know what you're about to ask me, Cliff!"  
  
The man who proposed to me chuckled and he took my hands once I walked up to him. "I know you're under a lot of pressure because I'm not the only one you're in love with" -Cliff raised an eyebrow- "so I'm not going to rush you. I'm sure you still don't know whether to say yes or no, so I have another proposal. I'll give you until the day that Karen and Kai are married to award me a yes or no answer. Does that sound good to you?"  
  
I began laughing. Cliff had read me like an open book. I figured that he was psychic or something, because I certainly was not ready to give him an answer. Karen's wedding still might not give enough time, but if I still held off on the decision by then, he would probably think that I didn't want to marry him. That date would have to do.  
  
"ATTENTION!" I heard Karen scream from the foot of the stairs. "It's time to start the treasure hunt!"  
  
The people at the party all started to rapidly socialize. One thing that I hadn't noticed when I came in was the people who had come to the birthday party. I saw Lillia, whom I knew would come. There was May and Stu, the two kids who had attended my birthday party. There was Jeff, and the only reason he had been invited was to crater the tables and bake the cake. Poor Jeff. Oh well. Everyone else was a part of Karen's family.  
  
"The rules of the hunt are very easy. There is no pairing up, unless you want to be with someone. The front door has the first clue. You will read it and then o off in search of the other clues. Once you find the eighth clue, which is the very last one, you will come rushing back to me and will hand me all eight clues. Whoever comes back to me first, with all eight clues in their possession will win the treasure hunt! The prize will be revealed once the winner has been announced! The treasure hunt is now starting!"  
  
The clue on the front door read: _It's in the place where you would least expect it to be!  
  
_ Well, that was pretty easy. Karen's closet! Karen hates it when people go rummaging through her belongings, so that was an easy clue. I dashed upstairs to Karen's room and pulled open the closet. Inside was a clue that was labeled #2.  
  
_Since it's too cold to be outside, we can't go swimming at this time of year! Darn it all! Not fair!  
_  
The swimwear. Well, that's where I was hoping the next clue would be. If not, then I didn't know where else in the house to look for it. I ran to the bathroom on the first floor.  
  
As I suspected, there was a clue on the mirror. I snatched in off, and read what was written on it: _You use this to enter the house._  
  
The front door? But a clue was already on it! I pondered what the clue said for a few minutes, and then bit my lip. What about the outside of the front door? That's probably what it's talking about. I ran to the front of the house.  
  
Outside, hanging on the front door was the fourth clue. I quickly read _Time to warm up after a hard day's work, and then rushed inside to the fireplace.  
_  
I looked inside the fireplace first. Nothing. That slightly confused me because there was nothing on the outer part of it. Confused, I walked around for a few moments and then looked on the carpet in front of the fireplace. There was the fifth clue.  
  
_The vineyard's mail carrier.  
_  
A little stumped, I decided to look in the mailbox, which was outside, as I figured there wasn't going to be anywhere else in the house to look for mail. All except for the penning desk, but it wasn't going to be anywhere around it, because Sasha hated it when people touched the penning desk. She purchased it from Silver Sapphire approximately twelve years ago, and she adored that thing.  
  
I opened the mailbox outside to find another clue inside. This was clue number six, and upon it, it read: _Eggs are a hard breakfast to make if you don't have this sort of a pan. Can be bought at Rick's for 6000G!  
_  
I ran into the kitchen. I could smell pastry every time I breathed in. It was like heaven. Then remembering that I was in a race, basically, I opened the pantry and found a frying pan lying inside of it. There was a clue attached to the side of it.  
  
The seventh clue read: _Look under my covers. I don't want you to, but just do it, would you?_  
  
May came running down the stairs just as I stormed up them. I needed to win the prize. Actually, I didn't need it, but I did want it. I wanted to show Karen that I knew her house like the back of my hand. I was going to win.  
  
I ran into Karen's room, where Kai was, and he said, "Hey, Ann! Are you on the last clue?" I nodded and threw Karen's covers off of her bed. While Kai chuckled, I grabbed it and it read: _Find me!  
_  
Nodding, I ran back down the stairs and saw Karen at the front door, talking to Lillia. Did Lillia already win? No! No! She barely came into this house! How could she win? I thought I was going to faint, until Karen said, "I see you've collected all eight clues, Ann. I guess that means you win!!"  
  
Karen put a blue vase in my hand and I screamed. I did win; I just didn't know what Lillia was doing next to Karen. I shrugged it off and said, "Let's eat cake, Karen!"  
  
And eat cake we did. It was scrumptious.

It was eleven-thirty. Karen said that she would open the presents the next day, as the party was so intense, that she didn't get a chance to. That was okay with me, as I didn't want anyone else knowing that I'd bought Karen a lawn mower. Otherwise, I'd be begged to buy houses for everyone! That would be a nuisance!  
  
I ran into Jack on the way home, which was sort of confusing, since it was eleven at night. I walked up to him and said, "Hello", just to startle him. He put his left hand on his heart and said, "Lord, Ann. What are you doin' out so late?"  
  
"Karen's party just ended, Jack."  
  
"Now? Wow, that must've been quite the party for it to be ending now. What did Karen say about the lawn mower?"  
  
"She didn't open the presents yet. It was an intense party, and we did a lot. We just never got around to opening the gifts. She'll be doin' that later, or something like that...so, yeah."  
  
"I see. Well, it's late and all, and I'll be going home now. I'll see you tomorrow, Ann."  
  
"Wait! Jack! I want to give you something that I won at the birthday party! I'm not too up about keeping it, so I want you to have it! What do you say about that?"  
  
"I suppose. Let's see what it is."  
  
Jack seemed quite happy that it was a vase. He has a table in his house with nothing on it, so I thought that this would make a great ornament for the table. He did seem to enjoy it, so I handed it over to him, with my usual, silly expression on my face, saying, "Take good care, of it Jack."  
  
I gave him an intimate hug, and hurried on my way. Not just did I not want to worry my father, but also, I had to be able to stay up until midnight for the following evening. New Year's Eve only comes around once a year!  
  
"Ten minutes to go!" Duke, the bartender shouted out to the crowded bar. Karen, Kai, Cliff, Sasha, Karen's father, Jack and myself were all trying to socialize in the noisy bar, but it was difficult.  
  
Karen and Kai decided that they were going to go up to the top of Moon Mountain to watch the New Year's Day sunrise. They had never done that before, and really wanted to try it. "An adventurous experience" Karen would tell me. I just laughed whenever she said that.  
  
Jack came over to me when Duke shouted out, "7 minutes until the new year!"  
  
"Ann, we've done a lot this year. Tomorrow will be the New Year's Day festival, almost one year since I arrived here. I have to ask you to come with me to Moon Mountain at midnight. I want to ask you a few questions that may...um, can you just come?"  
  
Suddenly, Cliff rammed into Jack. "Ann! I wanna go with you up to the mountain! We must! I just want to talk to you about Karen's wedding, and such! You'll be the flower girl, as you're the bride's best friend!"  
  
"HEY! I asked Ann first!" Jack shot back.  
  
"SO? Her and I must plan something really important, Jack!"  
  
I was stumped. Jack was in love with me. He was. But...was I in love with him? Or did I just consider him a strong crush still? The world was such a mess. I also had to think about Karen's baby and her wedding. Life really was a mess right now.  
  
"May I make a suggestion?" Kai asked, stepping between the two men. "If you can't choose one of the two guys, then you can come with Karen and I and leave the two of them to argue over you, Ann, as they both seem to be infatuated with you."  
  
When Jack heard that, he clobbered Kai in the face. Karen shrieked and ran down to her fianc' side. "What the hell was that for, Jack?!" Karen shouted at the farmer. Jack breathed in, quite heavily, and replied, "I don't need any of his stupid sarcasm! If I love her, then I should just tell her!"  
  
I felt like a shiver went up and down my spine. That was that. Jack was going with me up to the mountain. There was a lot that I wanted to talk with him about. I wasn't still wasn't going to tell him about the music box, though. That was for him to figure out.  
  
When Duke said that there was only 4 minutes left in the year, I grabbed Jack's shirt, and said, "Let's go! I need to spend New Year's Eve with a friend! Later Cliff!"  
  
I left Karen's cousin standing with his jaw open, while Jack and I ran to the mountain. Karen and Kai were no where to be seen once we got to the highest point of Moon Mountain that we were able to reach.  
  
"Why did you choose me, Ann? What special qualities do I have that Cliff doesn't? I thought that you liked the spice of life? We're both country folks. Cliff isn't. Tell me, why me?" Jack questioned me when we sat down.  
  
I looked in his eyes for a moment, and then said, "You are...absolutely fabulous. I'd rather spend such a great evening with you, rather than Cliff. He's a romantic bird, but you're for real, Jack. You're for real!"  
  
Deciding that it was the appropriate time, I pulled him in for a kiss the second that the fireworks went off above our heads.  
  
That was a wonderful feeling. The feeling that we would be able to live day-by-day, our relationship through another yearly cycle, once again. That was a superb feeling!  
  
I couldn't wait for the new sun to rise!

* * *

And to think that the upcoming Spring would be the season that would change my life forever and for always...


	21. Absolutely Pink

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 20: Absolutely Pink  
**

* * *

It was strange waking up to the sound of rain. I opened my eyes on the morning of Spring 3rd, and gazed up at the ceiling. Nothing was different. The ceiling was still cream white and the ceiling fan was still up there. Perhaps I was just dreaming.  
  
I quietly got changed, listening to the lullaby that was playing outdoors. The rain would definitely keep all the children sleeping in late today. Even though it was a Thursday, and a school day too, they'd all sleep in late.  
  
Suddenly, I heard a scream from the shop. Realizing that I was half dressed, I quickly threw the rest of my clothes on as fast I could, and then opened my door and shouted, "Dad, what's wrong?!" To my surprise, I saw two figures standing in the doorway. Two very familiar figures. Two familiar faces. Gray and Popuri.  
  
"Gray? Popuri? Why are you here? Weren't you going to remain in Silver Sapphire?" I questioned the couple.  
  
My brother shook his head and Popuri answered, "After two weeks of living in that mansion, we received a contract. If we signed it, that meant we were to manage some big tower in the city. If we didn't sign it, we were to be kicked out of the mansion. We didn't sign it. Gray and I don't know anything about business. I mean, we're both, technically, country people."  
  
My father gave Popuri a kiss on the cheek an hugged Gray. I kissed Gray and hugged Popuri. It was great to have the whole family socializing in the shop. This meant that Lillia was related to me now. Cool! I finally had a mother again!  
  
Popuri and I decided that we were going to go to the bakery and catch up. It had easily been two seasons since the last time I'd seen her, so I predicted a long conversation over a breakfast platter and cake. Popuri promptly agreed and we made our way to the bakery.  
  
Elli gasped when she saw Popuri. The two girls had been best friends since the first grade, and they were also hyped up about seeing each other again. Lillia was also at the bakery, something that the two of us didn't know, so Popuri was basically swarmed by people. I decided that I would just sit down and order the platter. There was no use getting between family and her best friend.  
  
My sister in-law finally sat down with a thunk, and said, "Now, are we ordering the breakfast platter or something else? It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's not too expensive. You wouldn't believe all the cash that I spent in SS. Remarkable, actually."  
  
When Elli (whom I was still not talking to) brought us our food, Popuri began telling me what she did in the city.  
  
"Gray and I browsed the city the day that we arrived. There were no hotels or motels anywhere, which shocked us. Where were we supposed to stay? So, we keep walking around for a bit, and someone who looked just like you, Ann" -"Really?" I interrupted- "told us that there were vacancies at this place called the Pretty Boy Inn. When we got there, we discovered that the inn was extremely small! That was also shocking, but there was an empty room so we took it right away!  
  
"For the majority of the days that we were in the city, we were looking around and just exploring. At the time we were no where near considering buying a house. We were actually hoping that our trip would end soon, as the city was...crowded. Too many people and too much to do. People always run all over you and they don't even say 'Thank you' or anything. That made the two of us really mad. But we let it slide all of the time. I wish we hadn't though.  
  
"I forget the date, but there was a little corner stand that was selling tickets to win a mansion. The price was 800K. Once I saw that "K" following the numbers, I knew that the currency was different. Neither of us was carrying any "K" currency. I walked up to the man at the stand and asked if I could pay him in G. He said yes but it would cost me twice as much. 1600G. I shrugged and bought a ticket, and Gray called me stupid. He said that there was no way that I was gonna win and that I just wasted a whole lot of money.  
  
"After the numbers on my ticket were called, Gray went insane and I was bouncing all over the town. Who the heck knew that I was gonna win? The mansion contract was under my name. A week later, Gray and I were wedded. I feel real crummy for getting married there, because no one from Flower Bud was there. Just a minister and two or three other people. I regret that, but at least we got married.  
  
"Then, two weeks later, during an intimate moment between Gray and I -please don't laugh- we get a knock on our door. I quickly find some clothing and rush down asking, 'Yes? What do you need?' Part of the contract, apparently, was that we had to sign another contract that involved running a high-tech gizmo place with a bunch of gadgets that I don't even have to use. Looking back at the contract, I did not see it anywhere on it, about having to run such a place. 'An error in the making,' said the owner of the lottery retailer. With that, the two of us left the mansion, and now, thanks to us, the tower is closing. I am a happy girl!"  
  
I nodded. Popuri seemed to have had a wonderful time in the city. Well, an okay time.  
  
Elli came back over to the table and made an announcement. "We are getting something called Popuri Cake in tomorrow. Please drop by to try some. Especially you Popuri!" Popuri had her hands over her eyes. "Here's the bill. Have a good day unloading your gear, girlfriend."  
  
"A cake after me? Does this mean I have to name a flower after Elli?" Popuri joked around after Elli went back to the kitchen. I laughed and answered, "No, no, that's perfectly fine, unless you really are her best friend. Anyway, Elli seemed to have cut the prices 50G cheaper than usual. She really does give the best of prices to her best of friends. Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"Why? What's the price?"  
  
Holding up the bill, I said, "It's 600G!"  
  
Popuri threw her arms up into the air and cried, "Holy jumpin' jellybeans! That is cheap! I should bring the entire village in here to eat sometime and see how Elli reacts to that." I laughed again, and gave Popuri another hug. I was happy that she was home.  
  
Lillia and my sister in-law were going to the flower shop to get most of her belongings over to the Green Ranch. I was asked if Popuri could sleep in my room until the double-bed arrived. Then she would sleep with Gray, of course. I agreed that that would be fine.  
  
Walking in the rain always felt so mysterious. I found it to be rather mysterious too. I stopped at the crossroad between the village, mountain, ranch and farm. I looked up into the sky to see lightning flashing. The quiet lullaby was transforming into a roaring symphony. I decided that I'd better sprint home, just to get out of the rain.  
  
Sometimes I can get injured pretty easily. As I was running, I slipped on a puddle and landed on my left foot. "EEEEEKK!!!" I screeched into the rainy weather. Suddenly, I heard feet coming from Jack's farm. He must've heard my scream.  
  
"Ann? Was that you?" I heard Jack call out.  
  
"Yes! Oww! I'm over here!"  
  
Jack noticed me and said, "Did you fall? Oh, dear. You must have slipped on that puddle. You'll be okay. Here, have a tissue and dry your eyes. Everything's gonna be all right. Everything's gonna be all right."  
  
I took the tissue and wiped my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was being lifted into the air. "I'm gonna carry you home. Just be more careful when you're walking in the rain next time, okay?" I nodded at my friend, and wiped my eyes again. My father was gonna flip when he found out that I sprained my ankle. Actually, that's what I was just supposing it was. I was probably right, though.  
  
When we got to my house, my father shook his head, as I figured he would. "Ann, you are the clumsiest person I've ever met. You have an excellent knack of getting yourself hurt. I caution you next time, as I'm sure you already did, right, Jack?"  
  
The farmer nodded.  
  
Suddenly, there was a light so bright that I could've sworn I was about to go blind. The next thing that was heard was thunder. Lightning before thunder. Loud thunder, too. A little too loud. The power in the house went out.  
  
"Stay calm, everyone stay calm. There may only be four of us in the house, be we must not panic. Jack: Did you feed your animals and finish your chores for today?" my father asked the person who he supposedly did not like.  
  
"Yes, I finished everything. If you're hinting me to stay here tonight, because you don't want me going back out into that outrageous storm, then I'm perfectly fine with that."  
  
My father found the door to my room, and lit a few candles for me. I had to be carried over to my bed by Jack. We carefully examined my ankle and saw that there was a tiny scrape on it. It was sprained too, but that pain would soon go away.  
  
"You look okay, Ann. Yeah, Ann will be fine," Jack told Dad.  
  
"That's good. Now I can concentrate on Popuri finding her way over here, because she's sleeping on Ann's couch tonight and...Gray doesn't have a couch in his room and you're not going to want to sleep in my bed because it's falling apart. Hm, where could we put Jack, Ann?" my Dad explained and then questioned me.  
  
Shrugging, I said, "I could give up my bed for the night. I'll sleep on the floor, it's not too much of a big deal."  
  
However, Dad shook his head. "Not with that sprained ankle, honey. Um, I really hate to ask this of you, but would it be okay if you slept on the ground, Jack? I think that this is really rude, but we don't live in the biggest of houses."  
  
Jack nodded. "I'm fine with that, as long as I have something to sleep on. This floor is harder than rock. Now it's my turn to say sorry and all, and if it's not too much trouble, could you please-"  
  
My father put his hand up. "Yes, I understand."  
  
Popuri did arrive safe and sound, but that wasn't until 10:30 that evening. She said that she was almost struck by lightning, but wasn't. God, was I ever relieved. Jack was on the floor on a bright green mattress that I used when I was at least seven-years-old. It was a real treat for him to sleep on something that I was no longer using. Well, not a treat, but still rather cool. The thing that I thought was the coolest was that there were five people sleeping in my house. There had never been that many except for the time that a bunch of tourists had to stay somewhere one night after arriving on ferry from Silver Sapphire.  
  
But we locked them in the cellar!  
  
I was thankful that Jack was there. If he wasn't, then who knows what could have happened. But there's one thing that I am sure of now: I did have feelings for him now. I used to find him indifferent, then as a friend, then flirtatious, then a crush. Then I didn't know if I only really liked him or loved him for a long time. But now I know...  
  
...I love Jack.


	22. A Day Once Lived Before

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 21: A Day Once Lived Before**

* * *

It was a horrible day...I was running very fast...I stopped at a tree...There was nothing behind the tree but a cliff...I knew I had to climb...I began climbing...I continued climbing...But then my foot slipped...I fell...Fell...Fell...To the grounds of the earth...  
  
"EEK!" I screamed, waking up all of a sudden. Breathing in heavily, I noticed that there were four people surrounding my bed. Jack was on my left, Popuri was at the foot of my bed, Gray was on the bottom right and my father was next to me on my right. It felt strange to see all of them staring at the same thing at the same time, especially if it was you.  
  
Looking back and forth at everyone, I said, "What's today's date? Why are you all staring at me like that?"  
  
Laughing, Popuri replied, "Get out of bed, silly! We're all staring at you because you finally woke up! You've been sound asleep for four straight days! Which means that the date is Spring 8th!"  
  
I jumped out of bed, gasping. I had been asleep for four straight days in a row without waking up? But how? That certainly didn't make any sense whatsoever! How would I have ate? What about using the bathroom? Sleep came easily, but what about everything else? Shrugging it off, I looked at Jack and said, "How's this years king?"   
  
"I'm all pumped up and ready to fly in that balloon with whomever I want to. Should I choose you, Ann?" Jack asked me.  
  
"We spend so much time together that I think you should choose somebody else," I replied. That's just fair, or so I thought it was.  
  
Dad came into my bedroom with a huge platter of food. Everything that was on it was from the Bakery. I knew that it was. Which meant that Dad was so relieved that I woke up, he went out and got me my favourite breakfast dish! What could be more delicious than that? Well, actually, there are dishes that are better, but I don't really need to go into that.  
  
"Eat up, everyone. The Sowing Festival starts at exactly 12:00 p.m. The current time is 10:30. After we all finish eating, we'll go straight to the festival. After that, we're all going to go to the bar. Popuri, don't drink too much. Ann, don't drink at all. Everyone else can drink as much as they want, but don't look at me and complain in the morning if you've got the mother of all hangovers, which I'm sure you probably won't," my father explained to everyone. It looked like it was going to be one busy day.  
  
I shoved the last bit of my food down my throat and cried, "Beat'cha all! Ha!"  
  
Gray looked at me like I was the most immature person in the house and Jack put a hand on my shoulder, saying, "I have to go up to the mountains to the balloon to start the festival. I would be absolutely honoured if you came up to it with me."  
  
Staring at him, I asked, "We're not flying in the same balloon, though, right?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
Suddenly, my father screamed, "It's 10:40! Eat faster! I want to be there by 11:00! This is a very important festival, you know! I'm just ashamed of my children for not going in the last five years!"  
  
That was true. I had never really cared about the Sowing Festival, so I never went, but there were essential reasons for me to go this year. Actually, there was only one reason, and it was good enough for me. It was the fact that Jack would be there, and after the ballooning and such, there would be a one-song dance. In the previous years, that was never done, but now, every year after the festival was officially over, there would be a one-song dance. I wanted to swing Jack around again.  
  
Finally, everyone finished eating breakfast. My Dad was so relieved. He scares me sometimes.  
  
"All right. We'll head on over to the Square, while you and Jack go up to the mountains, Ann. So, let's get going you two! Hurry up, Popuri! Those shoelaces aren't going to tie themselves!"  
  
While my father continued to boss Popuri and Gray around, my prince charming and I headed up to the mountains. Along our way, we socialized about Karen's wedding, which was going to be held on Sunday, and how Cliff was arranging a wedding the following Sunday, regardless of my answer to his proposal.  
  
"He's arranging a wedding whether you say yes or no to his proposal?" Jack asked me, surprised.  
  
I nodded. That's when Jack got a gleam in his eyes, which really worried me. What was he thinking? Nothing too nasty I hope. Maybe to throw over the wedding...Nah, he'd never do that.  
  
We came to the foot of the mountain, finally, and we saw that a bridge had been built! There was finally an easier way to transport up to the restaurant again! I didn't know that they had re-built it since it last collapsed! That was super!  
  
"Do you want to climb the tree instead of walking all the way around and around and around and around the path that leads up to the bridge? I mean, that could take FOREVER!"  
  
Shrugging, I said, "Sure, why not? That isn't going to kill me." Actually, it would worry me a lot. I hadn't climbed that tree since my accident when I was five-years-old. How could I be so clumsy and just suddenly let go? Especially when there was somebody else on the tree with me!Somebody else on the tree with me...wasn't that Jack? Wait! It had to have been him. He has the music box, doesn't he?  
  
"Jack, could we go up the path instead?" I asked the farmer. He looked at me with a confused look on his face and mouthed the words "Why", while making silly arm gestures. I giggled.  
  
I answered, "When I was five-years-old, I climbed that tree with a boy. I lost my balance and fell on top of him, I think. Or did he fall on me? Oh, whatever. Anyways, I got a scar from doing that, and I don't want another scar again. It would seem too alarming. You can go ahead and use the tree, but I'm walking up the path."  
  
Jack looked at me for a moment, and then said, "Sorry. Was it that bad? Arrgh, I knew it'd have been my fault, Ann."  
  
I gasped. I knew it was him! He just admitted it to me right now! I couldn't believe it! It was him! HIM, I tell you! HIM!  
  
"What are you talking about, Jack?" I asked, pretending that I didn't know what he was talking about. "What was that bad? What was your fault? Did you hurt someone? Or are you talking about the tree accident I had with that boy who promised me something?"  
  
Jack's eyelids popped open. "Tree accident? Hiding something from the boy? Ann? I just realized something that I should have never forgotten. I promised you something years ago that I should never have forgotten! What is wrong with me? Ann, don't you realize that the truth? I was supposed to return something to you. You would remember that it was me who was the one. I have...that music box."  
  
Right there, I decided that I had to deliver. Leaning in, I pasted lipstick all over his lips. I put my arm on his shoulder, and he put his arm around my waste, and we continued to kiss under the bright sunlight. It was such a romantic site. Just me and him.  
  
After we parted, he dug into his pocket, and pulled out a rusty old music box. I assumed that it was the one I gave him sixteen years ago. I wondered if it still played "Dance Under The Moon". I asked him and he answered yes.  
  
He started up the music box, and we began slow dancing.  
  
"_There's this tune, that makes everybody happy. Let's all dance. Dance under the moon. We all have our own choices, we all have our own voices. We should all try our best and do whatever we can do. But don't keep it sealed, keep it true. Don't lose your mind, or your great find. Share secrets and keep all alive. You'll know that there's only one way to survive. Don't hide. Don't scream. Keep all real. There's this tune that makes everybody happy. Let's all dance. Dance under the moon!_"  
  
We kissed once more, and walked off to the festival, which we were already late for.


	23. Karen's Wedding

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 22: Karen's Wedding**

* * *

_"Okay Jack, thanks so much, come in again!" Rick called as Jack opened the store door. But the farmer wasn't ready to leave yet. There was something sitting on the shelf of the shop at he needed to buy before his chance was gone. "Rick? How much is that?" The owner of the shop said, "You want that? Are you sure that you're ready for that step in your life?" Jack nodded. "I'm ready."  
_  
---  
  
Jack and I were so happy to have finally found each other. He was at the point where if I wasn't found, he was going to completely forget about me. I wouldn't have wanted that to happen. And thank God that it didn't. I no longer had to worry about finding the person who promised me what he did or anything to do with love. That was all over.  
  
Right now, I had to think about Karen. Her wedding was going to be held on Sunday.  
  
The current date was the 10th. I had all of today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to make wedding gifts. I always knitted sweaters as wedding gifts. It had become tradition. I knitted my best friend a white sweater, that had red polka dots all over it. I wasn't sure if she was going to like it or not, but for now, I was going to be giving it to her.  
  
Kai's sweater was more...dark. It was all black and had purple eyes on the front of it. I tried to sew on little wine bottles near the edges, but that task became impossible when I created too big of a hole. I had to re-knit that part of the sweater which was extremely annoying.  
  
After I finished knitting the two sweaters, I realized that it was well past midnight. Now I only had two more days to run around and get things prepared for the wedding. Life was certainly difficult in these manners, which didn't surprise me the least bit.  
  
I woke up on the 11th and raced to Karen's house. My friend wanted me to help her with the wedding gown that she was going to be wearing. It was long, and white and was beautiful. I almost got jealous for a second there, but I shook that thought out of my head, and began helping Karen with her outfit.  
  
"I can't believe I'm finally marrying Kai," Karen said. "It's been six years now since he came, and I don't know how long I've been in love with him for. A real long time, that's all I know." She sighed. "Why is life so perfect?"  
  
Under my breath, I sarcastically murmured, "Yeah, why is life so perfect?"  
  
Spring 11th went by in a whoosh. The next thing I knew I was hurrying to the church before midnight, and hanging up banners with the pastor and Popuri. We had both volunteered to help with the banners, but what we didn't know was that we were going to end up going really late. It was 11:45. Oh well. Anything for Karen that satisfied her, satisfied me.  
  
All that was left now was Saturday the 12th. A lot of work was getting done today. Gray and Dad even began helping and ran around like wild chickens, preparing for the upcoming wedding. One thing about Flower Bud Village is that weddings really are a rarity, so they are planned out extremely cautiously and everyone helps with the preparation. The day of the wedding is always a lovely one and the following day, a picture of the newlyweds is hung in front of the church for one year. It's such a beautiful site.  
  
How I wanted my picture to be hung in front of the church...and I only had one more day to say yes or no to Cliff's proposal. Would this be my only chance of finding a husband? I do greatly love him, but I also love Jack too.  
  
Some choices had to be unfair.  
  
All the guests didn't need to dress up at weddings. I found this to be unusual, but we weren't required to. So, like every other wedding I'd been to in my life (which was, like, one), I didn't wear anything but a pink tank-top and orange shorts that said GIRL along the back. But this time I was going to wear a yellow tank-top and green shorts with no message on the back.  
  
Jack had also been invited to the wedding. Him and Kai were basically best friends now, from what I saw, and I enjoyed seeing that, since Karen and I were best friends. The two boyfriends of us girls were the best friends. That was cool. That was definitely cool.  
  
Finally, Sunday the 13th arrived. I woke up with a nervous smile on my face, and quickly got changed into my Summer attire, regardless of the fact that it was mid-Spring.  
  
Gray and Popuri threw on the clothes that they wore almost every day, and we quietly ate breakfast, which I found suspicious. None of us were rambling about Karen's wedding. I finally decided to bring up the topic.  
  
"I wonder who will catch Karen's bouquet," I began. Popuri looked at me and said, "Well, for all you know, it's either going to be you or Elli. Maria probably won't participate since she's so spiritual about those kind of rituals. She can be quite the pain at weddings. She can be quite the pain."  
  
After breakfast, the three of us said goodbye to Dad, an ran for Jack's farm. We had to quickly pick him up, and then go straight to the church. The wedding was going to last all day, basically, and we would probably be partying late into the night anyways.  
  
I knocked on Jack's door the second we got to the farm, and he opened it, dressed in fancy jeans and a white t-shirt. He still wore that annoying cap that he had been wearing since the day that he arrived on the farm. How awkward, but yet, how cute.  
  
The four of us ran to the church, where Cliff already was. He was looking me straight in the eye, mouthing the words, "What's your answer? Yes or no?" over and over. I didn't want to answer yet; it was still too early. Finally, Cliff came up to me and asked, "Ann? I need your answer now. There's a wedding booked for next Sunday."  
  
I shook my head. "I'll give you an answer tonight at nine o' clock. How does that sound?"  
  
Cliff nodded and said, "Agreed. No later!"  
  
We had to stand outside the church for quite some time. I wasn't surprised though. These special moments always took eighty years to plan, plus another eighty years for the big event, if you catch my drift. I socialized with Gray and Jack for most of the waiting time but I also browsed to see who else got invited to the wedding.  
  
There was the Mayor, of course. There was Maria, only because she had to play the organ. There was Zack the shipper and his daughter, May. The midwife, Zack's mother, also came to the wedding. Other than the two people who always attended special moments, Zack, May and the midwife were really the only other people who had come. And of course there was us.  
  
The doors to the church finally opened.  
  
Everyone took notice of Kai holding Karen's hand. We all started cheering and watched as the newlyweds walked down the aisle. Karen would bow every so often ("I can't curtsy in this gown!"), and Kai would wave to everyone. When they got to the end of the aisle, Karen turned around and held up her bouquet. This is when she called Maria, May and I to the centre of the aisle.  
  
Maria and I complied, but Zack had to explain to his eight-year-old daughter what they were doing. It seemed to excite her, and so she ran to where the two of us were standing. Karen snickered before throwing the bright, colourful bouquet.  
  
It flew threw the sky like a rainbow, and believe it or not, it was caught by May! The crowd started to cheer and Karen smiled a huge smile when she saw who had caught it. Karen had always liked May. She was like a mother figure to May's long departed mother.  
  
"Let's eat cake!" Kai screamed, and we all rushed into the church.  
  
The twelve of us all mingled and such the entire day away. We drank wine, sang and danced, and even got to have a cake fight, which we would have to clean from the pews later on. It certainly was an enjoyable day!  
  
The day began to end, and the night began to shine. I looked at the clock and it read 8:00 PM. That meant I had only one more hour to decide to marry Cliff or not. The wedding would be in one week. What if I said no, though? What would happen to that wedding? That would be such a waste! It couldn't go to waste! It wouldn't go to waste!  
  
That was it. I had made up my mind. I was going to say yes to Cliff's proposal. I wasn't going to hang around and wait for Jack to propose. He almost forgot about us being kids together, but he did remember the incident on the tree! But...no. It was too late. I am saying yes to Cliff.  
  
At 9:00 p.m., I walked over to Cliff, and took his hands in mine. "Cliff, you are all the things I thought I knew. And you are. You're not a faker, you're not a liar. You're not a cheater. You're true to yourself. I think that you may create my happy ending. So, Cliff, to your proposal question..."  
  
Cliff's eyes perked up. He knew I was going to say yes.  
  
"...To your proposal question, Cliff, I answer-"  
  
"WAIT!" Jack suddenly screamed. Everyone in the church turned to look at the farmer. I turned around and saw that he had something enclosed in his hands. Oh, no. Why was he going to give me a useless gift right before I was to answer Cliff?  
  
Looking straight in my eyes, Jack said, "All those things you said to Cliff are how I feel about you. You are everything that I want. We are to be together. That's what you asked me" -I started getting tears in my eyes- "all of those years ago. You were right. I was also right. You, Ann, you are my happy ending."  
  
Jack opened his hand, and a whoosh of blue surrounded me. What was happening? This was...OH MY GOD! Why didn't he do this earlier? Why did Jack choose to PROPOSE TO ME RIGHT NOW?  
  
Karen and Kai watched from the stage of the church, while everyone else just watched from the pews. Now I had to reject one of the two men. If Jack had never proposed, I wouldn't have to say no to one of them. But now I have to. And it was gonna hurt me too. I knew what I was going to do. I knew who I was going to say yes and going to say no to.  
  
Looking at Cliff, I said, "I need a second to think this over."  
  
I walked out of the church, quickly followed by Karen, in her long wedding gown.  
  
Sitting on the steps, I kept juggling two thoughts through my mind. Why was this happening and who to choose. Would I make Cliff mad if I chose Jack? Would it be the same scenario if it were vice versa? What was going on here? What was happening to me? I thought all of my love problems were over, but they weren't. They had just grown ten times worse.  
  
"Ann?" Karen said. I looked back at my best friend, and then back at the ground.  
  
"It's just not fair," I said, tears starting to pour out of my eyes. "Why did I have to love two guys? Why couldn't it just be Jack? I promised him something, and he promised me. We were in love when we were younger, just when we were that young, it wouldn't have been called love. It would have been called liking each other. And now, if I choose him, what will Cliff say? He'll be angry as hell for sure. Making him wait so long just for me to go and accept the farmer."  
  
Karen gave me a pat on the back and sat down beside me. "Ann, I don't care who you choose, I just care about you making a choice. They obviously both love you. Go with the one that you want. Choose the man who stole your heart. And then Ann, he will be your happy ending."  
  
I looked up at my friend and embraced her. Despite her thorny attitude, she always knew how to give advice. I wouldn't have known what to do without her. "Thank you, Karen. And now, I'm going to make my decision."  
  
Karen made a silly face. She then said, "That was lightning fast." We both laughed.  
  
I got up and Karen followed my path back into the church. Everyone took notice, and the two men walked up to me. They both said, "Who is your choice, Ann?" and I then said, "Up to the stage. The town has to see this."  
  
Karen and Kai stood on the stage watching. I stood in the middle, with Jack on my left, Cliff on my right. It was time. This was the moment of truth. After this, there would be no going back.  
  
Looking straight forward, at the townsfolk, I slowly said,  
  
"I choose..."


	24. Our Happy Ending

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 23: Our Happy Ending**

* * *

"...Wait, I just have to say, before I choose, is that this isn't the hardest decision I've had to make my entire life. Dealing with pain, and all of that, due to my mother's death when I was younger. May understands what I'm talking about. So, the person I choose is the person I feel that I think would be the better husband to me in the end.  
  
"Oh, yeah, and from the current looks of it, it's gonna be me getting married next Sunday. Not May."  
  
Some of the people in the church laughed, but some, like Zack and the midwife were less than thrilled by my comment. I don't understand why though, because she was only eight-years-old! Oh, well.  
  
Everyone got silent again. I wanted to delay a bit more, but I decided that it was now or never. It was now or never. I kept saying that to myself over and over and over. Finally, I let out my big announcement.  
  
Turning towards Jack, I said, "I choose you."  
  
---  
  
I was so thrilled to be getting married to the person I was in love with when I was five-years-old. Who really knew that fate was really that strong? Definitely not me! But that didn't matter right now, what did matter was that I had a wedding to get to. My very own wedding.  
  
The following Sunday, the 20th, was the day of my wedding. It was the most beautiful wedding I'd ever been to. There was confetti flying around everywhere and the church was filled with so many people. My father was crying, Karen and Kai were both crying too, and Cliff was...Cliff was upset. I had made him wait for so long, just to reject him.  
  
I did feel bad about letting Cliff go, but I knew I had a future with Jack, and that was that. If I married Cliff, I thought that life for me would completely change. I wouldn't feel good about it anymore. So I knew that I had made the right choice. I knew that I had.  
  
Gray and Popuri attended the wedding too, with Popuri's stomach streching out as far as Karen's. They were both predicted to give birth around Summer 16th. That would be two days after my birthday. That would be cool!  
  
Finally, Jack and I laid lips on each other, and we walked outside and down the aisle, everyone cheering and throwing balloons and confetti falling into my hair. There was even candy flying all over the place, most of the little kids, including Popuri, diving for it.  
  
After the ceremony, everyone filed into the church for the party. Jack and I walked onto the stage and were both handed a knife. We cut one side of the cake, and a picture was taken of the two of us. After that, I gave him another kiss on the lips, and everyone cheered again. I guess that it really was true that newlyweds were rare in Flower Bud Village.  
  
"Let's all give a big cheer to the second wedded couple in just one week!" Karen shouted out to the church. And they cheered again. It felt good being in the spotlight for once, and not playing the role of a puppet. Even though I never did.  
  
At midnight, we all ran out of the church, and Jack decided to carry me home. I was finally moving into his place. I no longer had to worry about leaving Dad, since Gray and Popuri returned.  
  
Karen and Kai were finally together, too, so I didn't have to worry about her wedding anymore. I just had to be careful and watch for when her baby was going to be born. The same for Popuri, since both children were expected to be born on or around the same date. That would be the coolest thing in all of history!  
  
And no more love worries. I was finally with the man of my dreams. No more snooping around about who I was going to fall in love with. Truth be told, I was still madly in love with Cliff. It was definitely going to be a while before that spell was broken over me.  
  
There were still two bachelorettes in the village. Maria and Elli. Maria was obviously in love with Harris, so there was no mystery between the chemistry that was brewing there. Elli was still a mystery. She had her chances between Jeff and Cliff now, since she absolutely hated Rick. We'd see soon if she was falling for one of the guys.  
  
The only thing I worried about now was the question: Would we have children too? It just felt so awkward asking myself that. Sometimes I really, really wanted to get pregnant and be like all the other women in the village, but then I was also too afraid of wearing myself out. Well it looked like only time would tell again.  
  
Jack finally put me down when we reached the house.  
  
He opened the door and breathed in the heavy country air. It was a delight, but smelled like vegetables too. That was one of the many differences of being a farmer over a rancher. Your house didn't only smell like animals, but also vegetables. I enjoyed the vegetables more though. Tee-hee.  
  
It felt like home in Jack's house. Ever since our little breakfast, which was basically a year ago, the house had definitely grew into more of a real home. Now it felt like my home away from home. But now the Green Ranch would be my home away from home. It was strange how my whole life was shifting all of a sudden.  
  
I would still feed animals and take care of them. I also got to take care of more chickens now, since there was only, like, one back on Green Ranch. I also got to watch Jack's horse fly around the farm all day now. And maybe I'll be able to mount him...and go for a ride...on horseback.  
  
I couldn't ask for a better life, I just couldn't.  
  
Well, that concluded what you could call my quest for love.  
  
My life certainly wasn't over. There was a whole bunch more to explore.  
  
At least there was one thing that I could definitely admit for Jack and myself: We were together for a while, he left, and returned, both of us completely oblivious to the facts that we were the ones that we were searching for. But then, we slowly rememberd and then fully remembered. We were the ones. This was us, finally together...okay, FINE, I'll stop rambling on and get to the point. This concludes our happy ending.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Don't assume that this was the last chapter. It isn't. Stay tuned, as there is still more to come in _On Horseback_!


	25. The Country Life Advanced

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 24: The Country Life Advanced**

* * *

I must admit that moving out of the Green Ranch felt strange. I had lived there my whole life, but now I was married, and moving into Jack's farm. The day after the wedding, Gray, Popuri and Dad brought all of my things, including the music box, over to Jack's place, and we started furnishing it with my mist.  
  
Jack and I would wake up every morning at the same time: 6:00 a.m. It was tradition with farmers (and ranchers). We would eat breakfast, then he would go out to water the plants and feed the chickens. I fed the barn animals and cleaned the pens. Jack had only been doing that for a year now, but I'd been doing it my whole life, so hey, why not?  
  
I woke up the 1st of Summer and peeked out the window. The plants were gone. It was a new season. My second season with my new husband. It sounded charming at first, but I quickly reconsidered it, trying not to sound too sappy.  
  
"Good morning," Jack said, getting out of bed.  
  
I turned away from the window and looked at Jack. He quickly threw a pair of clothes over his boxers and put on his cap. It looked like another great day for farming.  
  
"Did you buy the seeds yet?" he asked me, while getting a glass of water.  
  
"Yes, I did that last night. Why else would I run to the Florist shop at five to five?" I replied, giggling at the end.  
  
Smiling, Jack took a sip of water. "At least it's not raining. I'd hate for the fireworks to be washed out. Fireworks are like a mysterious array of sparkling colours shining in the moonlight, falling to the grounds of the earth, sweeping people off their feet in oohs and aahs. Don't you agree, Ann?"  
  
I nodded. Jack was always very descriptive of everything, but he rarely showed it.  
  
"Now, if I'm not mistaken, which I'm so sure that I'm not, Ann, you won't be cooking this morning, will you be?" Jack asked me, grinning a stupid grin on his face.  
  
I immaturely stuck my tongue out at him. One thing that Jack did know, was that I could not cook. I couldn't cook, I couldn't cook, I couldn't cook. It was a plain and simple fact. Gray and Dad had always cooked my meals when I was younger, and insisted that I just continue with my knitting. I had agreed, but I really wish that I never did.  
  
"We had eggs, bacon and toast yesterday for breakfast," I began, "so today, I think that we should have...oh! I know! We should have some eggs, bacon and toast! Doesn't that sound a delicious idea, Jack?"  
  
Laughing, Jack replied, "Okay, okay. We can have some again. Unfortunately, we don't have enough eggs -yes, I remember how many from yesterday- so you're going to have to go get one from the chicken coop. Don't drop it, please."  
  
I fetched an egg for Jack, and while he cooked breakfast, I decided to do my chores. It'd be better to get them out of the way now then later. Shrugging, I walked out to the barn and opened the door. A familiar scent blew up my nose. The smell of fodder and cow waste. It was a smell that no one would ever be able to take away from my nostrils.  
  
I brushed Jack's two cows, Reese and May, and his sheep, Wonder. Then, I took out the sheers, and sheered Wonder. I loved wool. I could knit a million things with wool. Jack didn't mind if I took the wool sometimes, but if it became a habit, he would flip out at why he wasn't making the extra 900G with his daily pay.  
  
After milking the cows, and placing the cold drinks into the shipping bin, I raced to the house, where breakfast was on the table. "Ooo, what a tasty looking meal my wonderful husband has made me!" I cried with glee. Jack gave me a quick peck on the lips, and we began consuming our food.  
  
"So, Karen and Popuri's babies are due on the 16th," I said, while chewing on some bacon.  
  
Jack took a sip of milk, and then said, "Both of their children? On the same day? Well that's a problem for you, Ann. Who are you going to visit? Popuri, your sister-in-law? Or Karen, your best friend?"  
  
Shaking my head, I leaned closer to Jack and whispered, "Jack, the children aren't going to come out on the same day. That's what the midwife predicts. You just watch: They won't. It's a given fact. A shiny, crystal clean given fact."  
  
We continued conversing, and got onto the topic about visiting the restaurant, since it had re-opened. The bridge had been completed a long time ago, but like I said before, we didn't know of that news, which was actually quite confusing, considering the fact that we're just a small village. But we let the matter slip away, and put our plates in the dishwasher. That would be my job later on.  
  
Jack gave me another peck on the lips, and he headed out to plant the corn and tomato seeds.  
  
"Well," I said to myself. "It looks like I'll have to be doing some household chores today. This place has been a mess since I moved in, and it's time to make it as pretty as it was before, like I had always been living here."  
  
The sink was filled with plates and forks and knives from our previous meals. That didn't surprise me, as we only got our dishwasher two days ago. I took the dirty dishes out of the sink and placed them in the dishwasher.  
  
...  
  
If that was all a housewife did, then I was going to end up moving back to my Dad's place.  
  
I walked back into our living room backslash bedroom, and found a whole pile of clothes under the bed. Is that what Jack did everyday? He took his clothes and threw them under the bed? Some of it looked like it hadn't been washed since he arrived in the village.  
  
The bathroom was small, but the tub we had would be perfect for washing Jack's messy attire. I turned the knobs to the left, and fresh, ocean water came rushing out the two taps. I filled the tub to the half point, and threw in some soap. Unfortunately, soap wasn't sold in Flower Bud Village, so we always had to order from Silver Sapphire. What else was new?  
  
Who the heck heard of a place that sold a lawn mower for more than a greenhouse? No where but Flower Bud Village...  
  
Throwing some of my clothes in too, I began cleaning our clothes. It did take me awhile to finish the entire load, but once it was completed, I took them outside to the log terrace to dry. Jack had built a line that was attached to the horse stable and house. That's where I could hang the laundry to dry. The entire line was filled too, by the time that I finished.  
  
When I went back inside, I looked around. The dusting would have to be done, as the television was covered with dust. Everywhere. I meant that literally. Most of the tables were also covered in dust.  
  
I got the duster out of the cabinet, and spent at least a half hour dusting the entire house. Jack really didn't take care of his house too well. I didn't seem to enjoy that at all. This place would be spotless, if I was living here.  
  
At around 5 p.m., Jack came into the house, his hair filled with mud.  
  
"JACK! What on earth have you been doing out there? You are an absolute mess and I cannot stand to look at you like this a second longer! Get into that bathtub and scrub yourself until you sparkle head to toe!" I yelled at my husband.  
  
Ignoring me, Jack asked, "Where do you want to go watch the fireworks tonight? How about right here on the farm? I think that would be nice. What about you, Ann?"  
  
The next thing Jack realized was that he was sitting in the bathtub, the bathroom door locked from the outside. I certainly was evil. But I couldn't stand dirty people, even with farmers and ranchers! We may have different lifestyles, but that doesn't mean we always walk around as dirty as the mud on the ground. Well, some do.  
  
I decided to get some Sapphian (a Silver Sapphire cuisine, via Elli's Bakery) for dinner. Jack was still locked in the bathroom, so I unlocked the door, and he looked at me like he was going to kill me.  
  
"I swear if you ever do that again-" he began, but I cut him off by saying, "There's no time to argue! It is 6:50 and the fireworks will be starting any minute now! Let's go out onto the terrace! Oh yes, I bought some Sapphian from the bakery. That's why you were locked in there longer than you should have been. My apologies."  
  
A large peck was plastered all over Jack's cheek. My lipstick was a dark as Jack's brown eyes. I giggled, and we walked out onto the terrace.  
  
The fireworks started a second later. The exploding art shone in the sky and I put my head on Jack's shoulder while watching. It was a beautiful sight to see. I oohed and aahed every so often, and had to punch Jack in the ribs to make him ooh and aah too.  
  
"I told you that it would be a nice view from here, Ann," Jack told me.  
  
I smiled.  
  
"You were right, honey. This is beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful."


	26. Am I Turning into a Horse?

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 25: Am I Turning Into A Horse?**

* * *

The midwife was wrong about both birth dates. Karen's baby was born on Summer 5th, and Popuri's baby was born on Summer 13th, just one day before my birthday. Both babies were girls. Two healthy, giggling girls. They were so cute! Karen named her child Sally, and Popuri scared me a tiny bit by naming her girl Mint. But to each their own.  
  
My birthday was the day after Mint's birthday, and Karen, Kai, Popuri, Gray and Dad came over to the farm. We had a small party, but not like anything I had the previous year, which was pretty active. Popuri baked me a cake (since she was the best baker out of us three wives), and Karen tried her hand at cooking an omelette. It didn't turn out too well.  
  
I received a present from each family. Karen and Kai gave me a mug, Popuri and Gray gave me a stuffed horse that they had won from the horse races a few years back and Dad, being the man he is, shrugged and said that my present from him was giving me birth.  
  
...What a nice father.  
  
Waking up on Summer 20th felt very out of place. The first thing I did, was rush into the bathroom, and threw up. Jack said that something must be wrong, since I'd never done that before.  
  
"Honey," Jack began, taking me back to our room. "Maybe this happened because of last night. Perhaps it was very stressful for you."  
  
I shook my head answering, "Last night was fine. But, you probably are right. So from this day forth, I, Ann, swear to God and swear on Popuri's, Gray's and Dad's graves that I will never, ever, ever, EVER-"  
  
KNOCK! KNOCK!  
  
Jack rolled his eyes. "It's a ritual, Ann. I say something in the morning, and someone will come by. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the person who always came around was you, you know." I grinned. "But, whatever. That doesn't matter right now. I'll get the door!"  
  
At the front door stood Cliff. I was surprised to see him there, but I was also not surprised, because I knew that he would end up lecturing me about making the wrong decision and how my future was going to fall down on me. I walked into the kitchen, to let Jack socialize with the ex-vagabond.  
  
"Good morning, Jack," Cliff began. "I'm just here to let you know that I will be leaving for Silver Sapphire on the next ferry. Aunt Sasha got me a job, and I am quite pleased with it. I've just come to bid farewell to you, and who may have become my wife. See you. I'll return one day...perhaps. Perhaps not."  
  
Jack called my name, while I was chopping a fish and sighed. Lecture time.  
  
"Ann! Cliff is leaving to Silver Sapphire on the next ferry!" Jack told me once I walked back into our room.  
  
I smirked. "That's fine with me. I'm actually quite happy. As long as he doesn't return too soon, then I am the happiest rancher to have ever walked the soils of Flower Bud Village. Oh, and don't forget about the ever-powerful pitchfork! Very brutal!"  
  
After breakfast, which I did make, and which I was getting a little better at, the two of us walked out into the morning air. Clouds were covering about 85 percent of the sky and some were darker than others. "Rain," Jack mumbled.  
  
Since my job was to feed the animals in the morning, I walked into the chicken coop and scooped up the four eggs that were lying on the ground. Then I fed the four cluckers. Then I went into the barn where I ran into the three animals that Jack owned. I brushed the three of them, and then milked the cows. After I threw everything into the shipping bin, I got some fodder and placed it into the feeding bins.  
  
Then the strangest thing I ever did occurred.  
  
I went back over to get another piece of fodder, and just as Jack began walking into the barn, I took a quick bite out of the animal food!  
  
My eyes began to droop, and I looked all around, saying, "I have begun to ramble. This is such a pretty point of view. I am in the mood for some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Jack walked over to me, saying, "Uhh, you're really sure that there's nothing wrong with you Ann?"  
  
I shook my head. "I am fine."  
  
Jack doubted my dizzy thoughts, and told me to come inside and lie down. I complied, for some unknown reason. I walked inside, slouched down like I was about to fall on the floor.  
  
When the two of us got inside, it started to rain. Not just your typical rain showers, but a very heavy downpour. The drops could be heard hitting the roof of the house, and it sounded like giant-sized hail. Jack was alarmed, and said that a typhoon might be approaching. I doubted that, but I was still feeling rather strange.  
  
"Ann, we just went outside an you feel dizzy. Okay, I didn't think that it would get that serious, so, do you want to go see the midwife afterwards?" Jack asked me, looking very concerned.  
  
I was still dizzy. I answered, "She gives me pain. Sure."  
  
Jack now wore the most confused expression that I'd ever seen on his face. The next thing he did was pick me up, throw on a jacket, and we ventured out into the pouring rain. From the looks of it, he was about to take me to the midwife. I was completely oblivious to any thoughts and I just watched all of the worms coming out from their homes in the ground.  
  
We arrived at the midwife's at quarter past twelve. I lied down on her bed and we began a "check-up". I was told to cover my mouth and to slowly breathe in and out. I complied. She also told me to hit my knee. I did and began laughing hysterically. Jack looked worried. Was that a good sign or a bad sign?  
  
"Well," the midwife said, after doing some paper work. "It is very, very safe to say that your wife is doing just fine, Jack." The farmer took a sigh of relief. "However," the midwife continued. "Don't let her get her hands on any of that fodder again. I can see why she's craving that stuff. Each woman has a certain craving for something while they're pregnant."  
  
Pregnant? ... I WAS WHAT?!  
  
Jack toppled onto the ground while I regained concious. "Pregnant? You mean I'm pregnant? As in ready to have children and start a family and do a whole lotta others things that worry the heck out of people?"  
  
The midwife put a finger on my lip. "Shh, Ann. May is sleeping. And yes, you are pregnant. I can easily tell. There hasn't been anyone pregnant in this village since Karen and Popuri, but excluding those two, that would be...well, your mother!"  
  
That was true. Out of the five girls in town, I was the oldest. The order was unchangable: Me, Elli, Maria, Karen and Popuri. What made Popuri younger was the fact that she was born the following year.  
  
"Go on home, Ann. Jack will come once he wakes up. It was just a dramatic trip and he should recover shortly. Go on, go on, go on!" the midwife exclaimed, rudely pushing me out of her house. I shrugged. I'd have to get home one way or another.  
  
The rain had settled down at least. Not by much, but it had. Walking in the rain was always neat. The feeling of the rain in your hair, the rain on your lips...what pure, refreshing bliss. But I had to get home. Jack would get mad if I trailed water everywhere in the house, especially the kitchen. That literally made him flip.  
  
I entered the house and quickly took off my coat. My clothes were soaked. I hated wet clothes. I wasn't going to be able to do the laundry though, since it was raining. I ran into the bathroom and got changed into another pair of overalls. I threw my wet ones in the bathtub. I'd deal with those later.  
  
Jack arrived home in time for lunch. My cooking was getting better, but it was still rather nauseating. I had made mini-pizzas, but the each one was burnt at the bottom. That was a bad sign and Jack wasn't surprised when he entered the kitchen.  
  
"Ann, thank heaven that you only made three pizzas. Do you want me to help you every night while making dinner? I assure you that you'll become the greatest cook in Flower Bud before you know it!"  
  
I sighed. Back to the drawing board for me. But I was going to have to learn how to cook if I wanted to be a good parent.  
  
Jack and I were in the kitchen for the rest of the night, just trying to make mini-pizzas. Every single time that we made one, and if it wasn't burnt anywhere, then Jack would give me a huge kiss! I had to fight to get away from him once. But I could get used to this, heh.  
  
After we made nine non-burnt pizzas, we sat down and ate four each. Since neither of us wanted to eat the last one, so we gave it to the dog. After that, we decided to make dessert. We were going to make ice cream on our own. But it wasn't going to be an easy task, and Jack was not familiar with the recipe, so he expected us to screw up. We did, too.  
  
At 9:00 p.m., we perfected the art of making chocolate ice cream. It was my favourite flavour of ice cream, and Jack's too, so we didn't have any arguments there. When I licked the creamy dessert, I realized that it was the worst ice cream ever made! But I wasn't about to admit that to Jack!  
  
"I find this a little odd," Jack commented after taking a few licks and a deep bite. "It tastes like meatloaf. How?"  
  
I shrugged.  
  
We had done a lot today. We cooked, visited the midwife, and I even got to taste some fodder, which I now had to beware of. It had been a good day, and I was hoping that the next would be just as good.  
  
Or, maybe even better.


	27. Birth

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 26: Birth**

* * *

Being pregnant really wasn't all that scary. I would go through my regular daily routines and end off with a hot cup of tea. The only downside was that I still craved the fodder, so I wasn't allowed to go into the barn until the baby was born. It wasn't like I would be going in there after the birth, anyways.  
  
The baby was due on Winter 20th. That was still a long time away. Jack and I had plenty of time to prepare for the baby's arrival. We had also begun to pick out names that we liked, and names that we didn't like. It was probably the most difficult task out of them all, including the fact that we didn't know if it was going to be a boy or girl yet.  
  
I would visit the library every few days and say hi to Maria, who was still mad at me. I would grab a few maternity books and read them until the library closed, and I would quickly check them out, and run home to continue reading.  
  
When the autumn began, I was feeling more and more tired. The laundry wouldn't get done, meals wouldn't get cooked and the dust-collectors of the house would build up more dust than usual. Jack told me to just rest and that he would get to all of those chores eventually. It was hard for me to believe him, though, especially when he had to tend to the farming.  
  
Popuri was the most supportive girl in the village. She was my sister-in-law now, which officially made her a part of my family. Whenever she came over to our house, she would bring Mint and let me play with her. Mint was a quiet child, but when she wanted something, she would quickly become the noisest child I've ever heard!  
  
When I finished with Mint, Popuri would read me some of the books that I got from the library, and she would read me some of the books that she bought over in Silver Sapphire. I didn't particularily enjoy those books in the long run, but I shouldn't really be complaining. If it teaches me about maternity, then hey, the book's for me.  
  
Towards the end of the autumn, it was almost impossible for me to leave the house. Jack was really worried, because I limped a lot and would throw up every other day or so. He brought the midwife over to our house, and she took a look at me.  
  
"Well, Ann," the midwife began. "You _seem_ to be doing fine. Let's see...uh huh...yes, yes...that's good. Hm, strange. You look perfectly well, so if you've been throwing up occasionally, then it's because you've been under much stress. You should go to bed at seven o' clock every night until the day of your child's birth, and drink lots and lots of healthy fruit juices. Okay?"  
  
I slowly nodded. "Yes. I'll remember."  
  
A winter breeze began to pick up in the northern part of Flower Bud Village. Without a doubt, there would be snow on the ground early this year, unlike the previous year, which went five or six days into the season, or something like that.  
  
Waking up in the morning was even harder now. I wouldn't be able to bend my knees until later in the day, and my eyes would be filled with tears very frequently. My life was ruined. How was I ever going to survive the pregnancy?  
  
On the morning of Winter 19th, I woke up with a massive headache. Jack got out of bed first, and quickly got changed into his work outfit. I was still lying in the bed, hearing the weather channel and the news channel. I even heard static for a few seconds, but then the television flipped off. After a loud yawn, Jack told me to rise and shine.  
  
I didn't get out of bed.  
  
"Ann?" Jack questioned me. He didn't know how much I wanted to reply to him, but I just couldn't. I was unbelievably weak. "Ann? There is no time for fooling around. The greenhouse is full of will-be-harvested-crops today, and I want to get that job done now. The baby is due tomorrow. Do you even remember that?"  
  
I didn't answer. Jack finally pulled the covers off of me, and saw me staring right into the wall. He let out a little screech, and fell onto the floor. I hope I didn't look that frightening. Heck, I was the farmer's wife. I turned down Cliff for him. Poor Cliff too, why did he leave the village just because I said no?  
  
But I really shoudln't be thinking about that right now.  
  
The door to the house opened and slammed so fast, that I was pretty sure that I didn't even see it open up. After a minimum of ten minutes, Jack came running back with the midwife following, and my entire family. "Get out of the way!" the midwife cried, pushing Jack out of the way and leaning down towards me.  
  
Popuri came over as well, and looked at me. "You can make it Ann. You are the strongest of all the women in Flower Bud. Maria's just a librarian, Elli's just a baker, Karen just harvests grapes and I...I'm a flower freak. I don't even help out on the ranch. But you, Ann, you! You take care of animals. You bathe them, you scoop their litter and you...you had to _choose_ between marrying either Jack or Cliff."  
  
Out of no where, but perhaps from Popuri's touching words, I let out an enormus bellow, and my father shouted, "Ann! Is it time for her baby to come out? Is it?"  
  
The midwife nodded. "Gray and Jack: I want the two of you out of this house right now. Hall: I want you to make a cup of tea for Popuri and one for yourself. This is going to take a long time, that's for sure. It might not even be time for the child to come out yet. But from the current looks, it probably is."  
  
The only memory I have of screaming is when Popuri spilled a bit of her boiling tea on the blanket, which was strong enough to go through the bed. Otherwise, I remember nothing. My father was reciting encouraging words and the midwife was telling me to stay at ease and push every so often. This was so difficult that words couldn't fit.  
  
At 2:45 p.m., the Jack and Gray stormed into the house. I had just let out the biggest scream in my life, and it must have worried the two of them. Popuri looked over at them and said, "I don't know. This isn't looking too good. We're just hoping she survives."  
  
When Popuri finished that sentence, the midwife screamed, "PUSH!!" and I complied.  
  
The miracle of life had just occurred. A splendid, healthy baby had been born and a new life had been created. The child that I gave birth to was now mine. It was mine. My child. My first child. My first and which would probably be my only child.  
  
But...  
  
I screeched at the top of my lungs. My father hid his face and Popuri gasped when she saw what was happening. My child had indeed been born, but I was not finished the process. There was another set of legs poking through my body. The midwife was completely shocked. No wonder I wasn't handling the pregnancy too well...I had had twins.  
  
The second child was brought out and my head collapsed onto the pillow. It was all over. And I had two kids. That was good, because I was never getting pregnant again. It was a horrible thing to go through, and what would happen if I were to have twins again?  
  
"Give them names," I said, almost mumbling.  
  
The midwife gave one child to Popuri and one to Jack. The two of them smiled at the little bundles of joy. Jack said, "This one is cute. I know the perfect name, too. How about Amber?" From the bed, a smile crossed my face. I had one girl. What was the other?  
  
Popuri looked like she was about to cry. "What a sweet child. I know you don't want me naming it anything weird Ann, so I've decided on the perfect name: Carlos. That was the name you always wanted to give a baby boy, wasn't it?" Another smile crossed my face. That was a fact, not fairytale.  
  
I had two new kids: Carlos and Amber.


	28. Let the Rain Fall Down

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 27: Let The Rain Fall Down**

* * *

Twins. It was certainly one of the biggest surprises in my life, if not the biggest. Carlos and Amber were probably the two greatest editions to my life. But two kids meant double the responsibility. Farming, kids...life was difficult, but life was still good.  
  
Jack and I watched the sunrise from our farm on New Year's Day. It was absolutely gorgeous. Even prettier than last year. We both poured two wine glasses and toasted each other. Of course, Jack got his down first, and I became wired for a tiny bit. We were both unsurprised.  
  
Spring came. The flowers bloomed, the birds sang and the grass was bright green. Everyone loved Spring, especially my sister-in-law. I visited the ranch one day and saw flowers everywhere. Dad told me that he knew it was going to happen. Popuri had just held off for a bit of time before doing the actual planting.  
  
I would take Carlos and Amber over to the ranch every few days for them to play with Mint. If Karen wasn't busy, she would bring Sally over and the four kids would play for sometime. Then I'd have to change one of their diapers, which Karen couldn't stand doing. Popuri was nice enough to change Sally's just for Karen. My best friend thanked the lord.  
  
On Spring 9th, one day after the Sowing Festival (Jeff became the new king), the first spring downpour was forecasted. Jack was glad, since he wouldn't have to water the plants the following day. I was a little unsure of myself, because animals tend to be afraid of thunder. It was loud in their ears, and sometimes startled them to death.  
  
Luckily, later in the day, the downpour transformed into normal showers for the season, so I no longer had to worry. That was good.  
  
Spring 10th ended up being one of the worst storms in Flower Bud Village history, though. We all assumed that people over in Silver Sapphire were getting this too, but we couldn't be too precise.  
  
It wasn't a typhoon, but it sure sounded like one. Carlos and Amber were constantly crying, and I tried my best to comfort the two of them. Jack literally boarded up our front door. He said that the winds could knock the door in, and that he didn't want to take any chances. Our kids were the most important thing to us right now.  
  
"What about the animals? Won't they starve?" I asked in a worried voice.  
  
Jack shook his head. "Thanks to my big brain, I put three helpings of fodder into the animals' bins. That should get them through tomorrow and the 12th. As long as they don't eat each others food, then everything should run as smoothly as possible."  
  
I was just hoping that Jack was right. If one of his animals did die, I would probably flip out and do something that I shouldn't do...but that wasn't going to happen, so I should just shove that thought out of my head and get on with life.  
  
The next day was just as bad. I wanted to look out the window, but didn't, only because there was a vent in front of it. If lightning struck the house while I was standing on the vent, there was a high possibility of me to get electrocuted. Obviously I didn't want that happening, so I just stayed away from the window.  
  
Turning the television on was limited in the house. We would only watch the weather and the news. The forecast continued to call for rain and chances of thunderstorms. Cold fronts were passing by, dropping the temperature down to the freezing point of 0 degrees Celcius. It would remain to hover around that spot for the next three days.  
  
Jack was ready to panic, since the barn animals only had one more days worth of fodder remaining. I looked in his eyes and said, "Please don't go out there. Anything could happen. You know that, honey."  
  
I rested my head on my husband's shoulder, and said, "Will the rain lift in time for your father to come in the Summer? I mean, I want it to be a pretty day. I don't want it to be muddy or wet. Well the morning dew is an exception since that can't be helped, but...you know what I mean, right, honey?"  
  
Jack nodded. "Don't worry; all will be fine."  
  
Spring 12th, and the rain continued to fall. I hadn't seen Dad, Gray, Popuri and Karen in days. It hurt me a lot, since they were the closest people next to me, next to Jack, who I was with basically 24/7 now. I needed to get out of the house, but Jack needed to get out even more.  
  
"I am going out. The animals need to be fed. You know that."  
  
I let Jack go out, even though it wasn't easy. The rain was just pouring, and the fog was heavy. The visibility was absolutely poor. I couldn't even see up to the barn, which wasn't good. He would get back though.  
  
Amber let out a loud yawn, and I went over to the baby bed, and picked her up. She had a small smile on her face, and let out another yawn. I wasn't really sure if she wanted anything, so I picked up her pasifier. It seemed as though as I was right, because she took it and started playing with it. I wasn't sure if pasifiers were for playing with, however. Weren't they only for the mouth?  
  
After putting Amber back in the bed, I walked into the kitchen, and got some eggs out of the refrigerator. Breakfast was going to have to be made, and it looked like I was the one who was going to be making it. I mumbled under my breath, "Sorry, if these taste bad, Jack."  
  
I liked my poached eggs. They were probably the best breakfast meal that I had made since I'd met Jack. He really taught me how to cook. But we never made ice cream anymore. That all came from the bakery, as last time it turned out being something it wasn't supposed to be.  
  
Jack walked in a second later, and said, "Poached. Let's see how they taste." He grabbed his fork, and stuck a huge piece of egg into his mouth. I held my fists together, shaking. "They are splendid! Best meal you've made so far! We should have a cooking contest here in Flower Bud. You'd probably win!"  
  
The next day arrived. The 13th, and it was raining. Luckily, it was just a small rain. There wasn't heavy fog or big lightning flashes anymore, which eased the two of us. Jack could go out and do his normal business for the day, and I would do the cleaning, since the house had turned into a super dust collector since Carlos and Amber were born.  
  
Plus, the house was full of toys that I would have to put away.  
  
Karen stopped by around lunchtime, and offered to help with the cooking. The two of us were both naturally bad cooks, but we'd grown on it since the two of us had gotten married. Karen was a little better than me, like she always had been, but that never bothered me except for the time that she said she didn't start a fire. I had once, and I felt offended, in a stupid sort of way.  
  
Jack and Karen double-kissed when he came in, and we all sat down to eat. Karen and I had made chicken and rice. The perfect kind of leftovers for later on. We chatted about the important things and things that weren't a big deal at all.  
  
"How is the vineyard? With the rain and all?" I asked Karen, half way through my lunch.  
  
"Kai is real mad right now. The grapes are beginning to get water logged. If this rain doesn't stop anytime soon, we're all going to flip out. Especially my father. It'd better clear out."  
  
Karen and I put the dishes into the dishwasher when the three of us finished, and we went into the our room, and continued to converse for a little longer. Carlos and Amber were sound asleep, and I intended to keep it that way. I didn't want them waking up all of a sudden, not when my friend came over for the first time in a few days.  
  
After another hour or so, Karen said that she had to scoot. I gave her a hug, and she left the house, waving until she entered the vineyard.  
  
I was just hoping that the damn rain would stop within the next few days or something.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** I wrote this chapter while listening to _My Immortal_ about twenty times easily. I've never done something like that before. But, yeah, the story is almost finished. Only two more chapters to go.


	29. Learning to Grow

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 28: Learning To Grow**

* * *

--- The heavy rain came back for another few days. I sighed and just sat by the window, staring outside. I was so sick and tired of the constant rain. I mean, I didn't really mind it, but it got annoying when it continued for days without any sunlight.  
  
--- Spring 26th was the day that the rain came to a halt. The Flower Festival had been cancelled because of the rain, which in my opinion, truly sucked. Popuri said that she was the angriest out of the village, and I let her have that one. She adored that festival.  
  
--- Jack and I decided that Spring 29th was going to be a day devoted to our kids, and only our kids. Both of them had begun crawling around the house, which meant that they could easily entertain themselves now. The majority of the time anyways.  
  
--- Amber tried crawling the couch beside the staircase to the roof, but fell off of it. I screamed (What else?), and ran over to my baby girl. Luckily, she didn't cry or anything. The only thing that came from her mouth was a small groan. I sighed in relief, and picked her up. I didn't want her trying to do that again.  
  
--- I got her bottle, and gave it to her. Amber was definitely one of those milk-lovers. On average, she drank about six bottles a day. Carlos only had about two, which the midwife said was not enough, but no matter how hard he tried, we were both unable to get him to drink anymore.  
  
--- Both of the kids were active and both loved adventure. Amber enjoyed climbing the furniture and standing herself up, even though she would fall back down after a split second. Carlos was a jumper. He would lift himself up, jump, and land back on all fours. He also liked to try and outrace both of his parents. He never won though.  
  
--- "Isn't your father coming in two days?" I asked Jack that evening at dinner. The kids had been put to sleep.  
  
--- "Yep, so tomorrow we've got to tidy this place up. I want it to be nice and presentable for when he comes. I hope I pass his judgement test though, or we may lose the farm."  
  
--- My eyes widened. "WHAT?"  
  
--- Jack began laughing. "Nah, I'm just kiddin' with you, honey."  
  
--- I glared at Jack. "Don't ever do that again."  
  
--- We had one whole day to get the place ready for the father visit.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:** Well, that's it! Just to start off, if you're wondering where the lines had to come from suddenly, Fanfiction (AGAIN!) is changing how to upload documents, so I can't indent, which is kind of annoying, considering that these were the last two chapters! XD Oh well!

With only one chapter reaming, I'd like to give my thanks (and flames) to the following people:

Ann Fan, thanks for giving me the idea of Ann having two children instead of one. Thanks for reading the story right to the end too.

Julianne, thanks for giving me some of the chapter titles, and for reading some of the story.

Aquamarine, for reading the story. Are you sure it wasn't you that left all of those weird "happy birthday to me" reviews? :P

Radicalpony, a few things for you. A review is to comment on the story, not to freaking comment what other people have said about the story! Don't leave meaningless reviews that are completely unnecessary!

I guess...actually, nah. Those are all my thanks and flames. XD

So, thanks for reading Ann's story right to the end!


	30. The Father Visit

**On Horseback**

**Chapter 29: The Father Visit**

* * *

--- I was probably more nervous than Jack was when I woke up the next morning. We had one day to make the house dazzling perfect. Then we had to dash off to town and tell everyone that a party was going to be held the following night, too, which was.

--- "Ann, you can go to town and invite all the people who you think should come to the party, and I'll clean the farm up. If there are any sick animals, I'll buy medicine. I'll clear the land of the weeds. I'll dust the house. I'll take care of the children. You go out to town, okay?"

--- I figured, "Why not?" and set out for the village. Dad, Gray and Popuri were already coming, so there was no point in going to tell them, so I went to the vineyard first. Kai and Karen were inside the wine cellar, filling the bottles with alcohol.

--- "Karen! Kai! Could you two come to a party at the farm tomorrow night?" I asked the two of them, walking down the stairs.

--- Karen looked at me and said, "Will there be any booze?"

--- I nodded, and they both said that they would attend. I also invited Sasha, and was on my way. The next stop would be the florist's. I basically had to invite Lillia, since the two of us had been friends for so long. After I received a prompt yes from her, I decided to go to the church. The pastor was there and said that he would come too. It looked like it was going to be a lively party.

--- It was fun running around Flower Bud Village, telling everyone that there was going to be a party the following evening. When it started to get dark out, I made a dash for home. Jack was going to get the greatest shock of his life when he found out how many people were attending the big bash.

* * *

--- Summer 1st. I was finally getting my chance to meet Jack's father. I just hoped that I would make a good first impression.

--- At 9:00 a.m., Jack, Carlos, Amber and I ran to the beach to welcome the ferry. It would be holding Jack's dad. After a few minutes, we saw the great big white boat pull into the marina. The captain shouted, "All hands off deck!" and two people came off of it. One was a travelling peddler, and the other one was Jack's father.

--- The short man with wavy brown hair came over to the four of us and said, "Jack, my son. It has been so long. How are things going with you? May we go to the farm?" Jack handed me Amber, and father and son hugged each other.

--- When we got to the farm, the five of us stood in front of the house, and we introduced each other.

--- "I am Jack's wife, Ann, and these are our twin children, Carlos and Amber. I did not name them, I think you and Popuri did, yes, Jack?" The farmer nodded, and I smiled. "I love the names, personally. If I didn't I would have changed them."

--- Jack's father began to poke his head around the farm after we finished socializing. He looked in the barn, in the chicken coop, at the land, and the grass fields, even in the greenhouse. Then he looked in the house, at all of the accessories and such and such. It was like a police officer going through everything that you owned.

--- "Yes, I see. Yes, I see," he kept repeating to himself over and over again. "Yes, I certainly see. A job well done. Uh huh. Mm, okay. Capital, my son. This farm is in such good shape. I must say, that this is probably even better than when you're grandfather lived here. I am truly impressed by how you changed it in the last two years. Good job. But, I must now go around to the villagers and get their opinions on how you have been doing." With that, Jack's father went off.

--- "He does well with the girls."

--- "His grass fields are excellent."

--- "I would like it if he continued to share his recipes."

--- "Sorry, he's not all that into fishing."

--- "His home extenstions are perfect."

--- "He has shipped a fair amount of items in the past few years."

--- "He is caring for his animals."

--- "Let Jack keep the farm."

--- At around 5:00 p.m., Jack's father returned. Right on time, since this was when all of the party guests were going to arrive. I announced the occasion to him, and from the look on his face, he didn't want to stick around to party. But of course, looks can be deceiving, and Jack's father was very excited when he found out that a party would be starting.

--- "This way, I can find out who your friends are."

--- Oh, great. Another test that we had to pass. Jack had a sneaky father. Why was I not surprised? Why was I not surprised? The first guest arrived quarter after five.

--- "Let's drink!" It was Karen. Kai followed his wife, carrying Sally. Gray, Popuri and Dad came after that, Gray carrying Mint in his arms. After that, came Lillia, Sasha, the Pastor, Rick, the midwife, May, Zack, Stu, the potion shop owner and Kent. These were the guests at the party.

Well, so I thought. One person, Jeff, came fifteen minutes after all the other guests.

--- "So, you are not friends with everyone in town, are you, now, Jack?" his father asked him. Jack shook his head. "Some of us don't get along. One girl named Elli? She was sweet and caring, but turned ugly when she found out that Ann had a crush on Cliff."

--- "She was PLAYING you?" Jack's father gasped. I sighed.

--- "No, she had a crush on me too. In the end, I ended up wedding her. We gave our wedding its own little name, which I picked out. It was called _Our Happy Ending_. We both loved the name."

--- The father nodded. "Wonderful. Now, moving along, I see that there is a big strawberry cake that your friend Jeff baked. It looks extremely delicious, so, if I may Jack, could you hand me the knife so that I may cut it?"

--- Jack complied his father's wishes, and he cut the cake into seventeen nice pieces. There weren't any leftovers, but that wasn't such a big deal. Everyone partied hard into the evening. Before any of us knew it, the moon was starting to set in the west. Even the children were still awake.

--- At 5:00 a.m., everyone started to pile out. The only ones who remained on the farm were me, of course, Jack, his father, Karen, Dad, Gray and Popuri. We all sat on the log terrace, as the sun was getting ready to rise.

--- "Son, I am proud of you. You are married, have a bunch of wonderful friends...your life is certainly better than your grandfather's was. I mean, he lead a wonderful life too. And you know what? There is something that I should tell you."

--- Everyone grew attentive.

--- "Your grandfather ended up marrying a beautiful women, who is kind of like you, Popuri" -Popuri flashed her eyes- "but he knew your grandmother, Ann." A strange expression came to my face.

--- "Jay -your grandfather, Jack- married someone who resembles Popuri, but he knew Ann the inventor. That was over fifty years ago, though...but it should live on in your heart forever. It does in mine."

--- Karen decided to say something next. "You want to know what I think? I think that we're all one big happy family. I mean, I know that I'm the only one here who isn't part of your family, but still, look at all of us. Gray and Popuri are happily married. Hall, you're still minding the ranch. And you're now the father to four kids. Jack and Ann? You two are finally together. Even after battling through that whole Cliff ordeal, it's finally over. You guys are finally together. Case closed."

--- After Karen said that, I embraced my father, and Gray hugged Popuri. Karen gave a big hug to Jack, and his father just sat there, with a huge grin on his face. "Guys, you're all one big happy family."

--- I looked over at Karen and said, "You're my best friend." I looked at Gray and Popuri and said, "Brother and sister-in-law." Over to my Dad. "My father, obviously." Then I looked at Jack and said, "You gave me a happy ending, Jack. I love you." We decided to kiss, regardless of how many people were around us. They all just went "awww" though.

--- When the sun came up, everyone but Jack's father left. I shouted to them, "See you later!" and they were on their ways. I then looked over at Jack and said, "Thank you for making my dream a reality. I love you so much." I kissed him again, under the bright sunlight.

--- Jack's father said that he had to get going. The four of us went down to the marina, and bidded a big farewell to him. The boat docked out, and we kept waving to him until the boat arrived in Silver Sapphire.

--- The two of us put Carlos and Amber down in the sand, and we began to kiss each other. Our lives would now flow on, from now until the end of time. We would continue living in peace, and one thing for sure: On that very farm.

--- Suddenly, I had the urge to ride a horse.

--- "Jack, let's go home. I want to ride a horse!"

--- Jack looked at me with a cute smirk on his face. "I know what you want to do...you want to get-"

--- I interrupted him with crying out loud, "ON HORSEBACK!"


End file.
